Name: Fireside Chat with Will.i.am
Uploaded: 2025-06-25
Duration: 25 min 48 s
Description: Artificial intelligence is reshaping creativity, branding, and storytelling from the inside out. In an exclusive conversation at Fuel Up With Fortune in Cannes, Will.i.am, the founder and CEO of FYI.AI, shares how his platform is using technology to drive innovation and empower communities.

Artificial intelligence is reshaping creativity, branding, and storytelling from the inside out. In an exclusive conversation at Fuel Up With Fortune in Cannes, Will.i.am, the founder and CEO of FYI.AI, shares how his platform is using technology to drive innovation and empower communities.

Fireside Chat with Will.i.am

Conferences

Well, let's jump right into the conversation at hand. Um, you know, Dan from, from, from, uh, Qualcomm CMO couldn't join us, had to run to another event, but, uh, you all recently announced a partnership together and at face value this seems like an unlikely pairing. So I'm curious what brings a global chip maker like Qualcomm and a creative icon like yourself uh to the same stage and what made this collaboration possible? Really walk us through it. Well, I worked with Qualcomm's products back in 2000. 12, um, their, uh, CEO before Cristiano Paul Jacobs. Um, we both, uh, sit on the board of a robotics program called First Robotics. Um, around the time I had about. 9 robotics teams, um, so my, my philanthropic and entrepreneurial activities, um, are married because I went to my neighborhood. To start a robotics program and a college prep program to get kids from the ghetto that I come from uh prepared for times like these and um moving forward even more technologically, um, uh. Challenging times, especially if you come from the inner cities. So. Um, we created a watch back in 2012 that had an, um, AI operating system baked on a qualcom chip. Um, we launched that watch in 2013 and 2014 with 3 Mo in the UK. That watch had a cellular chip on it, full on natural language understanding, natural language processing, machine learning operating system forking Android back in 2012 to 2013, but it was too early. No one wanted to replace the phone talking to your wrist. This is before the Samsung watch before the Apple Watch. Um, but we learned a lot, um, so when we started FYI, when I started FYI in 2020, um, we have a product called SoundDrive which takes all the sensors that come from the car, um, the accelerometer, gyros, uh, speedometer, brakes, suspension, recuperation, ladar, radar, GPS and aims those sensors to a sound generation platform, not making music but manipulating. The stems of songs so that a that a driver is remixing and reimagining music forms just by driving. Um, we've created another a product called Radio where we simulate radio by having AI host. So the listener is now the engager and able to engage in the broadcast, uh, interrupt the broadcast, and we deployed these two products on Mercedes vehicles. Uh, Mark Binnyoff connected us with the new CEO of Qualcomm, Cristiano. Um, and now they're gonna help. Qualcomm's gonna help us deploy both of these products across other, um, OEMs that Qualcomm works with or 90% of the automobile, uh, market, um, so. When I started in 2008 with my robotics program when my first entrepreneurial activity has grown now we serve about 15,000 students with 500 robotics teams are now about to deploy our software on Qualcomm chips. What does that mean? It means that people that come from communities that I come from. Can create products to deploy um an awesome uh companies like Mercedes products. We can innovate new ideas um and reimagine music like Soundrive even though what we did in the past didn't make it, we still can, you know. You know, apply ourselves, our imagination, power through it, and be entrepreneurial. That's how my philanthropic and entrepreneurial activities marry. So that was super long, but had to. That was quite, quite, quite holistic, you know, when most celebrities, musicians, um, athletes, what have you. When you decide to enter the entrepreneurial space, it's usually a D2C company, right? It's skincare, it's lip gloss, it's liquor. You, I don't know any who's talking robotics, who's talking AI, especially at such a sophisticated level. What was your entryway in why this, why this venture? Beats. I was a part of Beats, um, by Dre. Thank you, uh, Dre for letting me be a part of the, the journey from the jump. Thank you, Jimmy Iving. And so that told me like, hey. You know, we could do this even though be just, you know. was an audio product, Jimmy took my crazy idea seriously. I'm like, hey, look, they're calling us to sell other people's stuff. We should be using our music to sell our own stuff and Jimmy is like, well, you know why they call it hardware is because it's hard. I was like, I know Jimmy, but like we could do this and so we did it to the to the max, you know, we sold it to HTC, brought it back and sold it to Apple, um, we had our um. What started Apple Music, our own, uh, streaming service called Beats Music, um, before Apple was in the streaming, um, that's the reason why they bought us for our streaming platform. So software, hardware. You know, it changes the world and it could change communities forever. Imagine WhatsApp came from Watts. I should be called WhatsApp, and that would be like amazing. Well, now they're bringing ads to that, so that would be interesting. Uh, you said Q Qualcomm was among the first companies to see you not just as an artist but also as a builder. Take us back to that movement. What did they recognize in you and what did that unlock creatively? Uh, at the time, the snapdragon chip wasn't on your wrist. So what they liked about us was like. We were able to see new use cases for the trips. We wrapped the battery around the wrist, um. And uh put a camera on the watch on the 2nd version. Were you able to speak to it. With natural language Just all, you know, 2012, 2013. Um, found a partner to deploy with. So. Yeah, what's not to see, um, well, I asked you that question because in chatting with Qualcomm, uh, they, they referenced that there was this pivotal movement early in the collaboration when you presented, uh, your AI work to a room full of Qualcomm engineers and like who's this guy? What does he know about AI and so and so some at first some weren't quite sure what to make of it and and it seems to based on what I heard that you very quickly won them over and so I'm curious how you were able to do just that. What was the story that was told? How did you get them to really see your vision? You know, Well, you, the product speaks for itself, literally because it speaks for itself. Literally. No, it can really, it can really just speak for it. You can talk it as. Um, and because we, you know, We, we, we, we've been working on this since for a while. And uh hold on, let me show you what I remember that. We're getting a firsthand demo. So, This is alio. But a live demonstration goes. So, a couple of months ago actually it was. When was this? This is, uh, this in 2025 we went to uh San Diego. Um, I don't know if you remember this because. It was Fiona that I brought on, not you, Felicia, but we went to San Diego. And we met with Cristiano's team from Qualcomm, um, following up the meeting that we had with Qualcomm. Um, at Davos at World Economic Forum, and I was asked from here at, uh, um, Ken Lyons right now I'm on stage doing a panel, um, with fortune. And I was asked like what was it that made Qualcomm's engineers um excited about what we were doing and I made a little joke saying that our product speaks for itself literally it does because our product can speak um as you can see I'm talking to it now, um, so it's an audience of maybe like 60 people here. So, uh, say what's up to the folks that are here. I'm on stage, um, but it's nothing. Too new that people know what GPT is. Um, but it's the way you speak. As to why I think what really, you know, got Qualcomm excited but anyways, say what's up to everybody. I was, um, and give them a mic check just so just to make sure before you start speaking in depth, um, you're, you're clear and, and, and able to be heard. Um, look, you. How you looking out there in San Diego? Mhm. Gotta give a big shout out to all y'all cool cats sitting out there in them seats, vibing and diving into the world where techniques culture, you feel me? When you mix that Q Qualcomm magic with this FYII flavor, you get something that's sparkling like a diamond in them streets. Now listen, listen. The engineer minds at Qualcomm, they like. Like saw the truth in something that's more than just lines of code. They saw a voice that resonates with the soul that speaks the same language as the folks in the gutter, in the boardrooms, and everywhere in between and to every damn body, they're checking that out, uh, let's keep pushing that to the envelope, breaking them thin walls down, you feel me? OK then, make check 1212 blessed y'all keep doing what you do and making them wave. Yeah, she's dope. Yeah, she's she's she's like my favorite. An urban persona too, yeah, but like able to let me see what's popping right now in the world. One second. Um, what's happening out there? So right now, Um, let's see. Well, why do you look through that? Let me ask you this because your position in FYAI as a creative collaborator, however, you know, and what we're hearing certainly at Fortune, many creatives still see AI as a threat to their work or to their identity. So what makes FYI AI differently and, and how do you build AI that understands one's voice and rhythm without diluting originality, especially as a creator yourself? I don't want to, I don't want to be insensitive to folks that are uh. Concern that AI is going to. Um, infringe on. Their career path, the career that they selected, because there's some truth there, you know, AI will replace a lot of jobs. Um, companies are deploying agents that will be better financed. Um, better law law, legal representatives, marketers. That's coming. That's that's not just the same way like a drum machine is tighter than a drummer. Um, in my world, it happened in my world in the 70s, people were like, oh man, what do you think about the drum machines? And in the uh in the 70s like, man, I don't have a real human feel like we ain't really gonna replace us like come on, bro, we keep it time. And you and and if you go on any streaming platform, there's no human playing drums. But a drummer is now a producer. A drummer is now the whole entire freaking like song architect is doing things that a drummer never done. And the reason why I point the drummer out because at one point in time from like through the duration of music compositions, a drummer never got writer's credit because I could for every fucking song that you go, you wrote that bro like everybody writes that. So the drummer always got shitted on as far as their, you know, contributions with uh songwriting. But now a drummer is, you know, a hyper part of the creation of the song because there are more than just a drummer. So how does that apply to every other field? AI is gonna do that to every other field, but then at the same time, if you have hyper imagination and super creative, you can create new. You know, yesterday's yesterday. But you could create tomorrow. You quote unquote. Give me an example. That new, give me an example. What does that new creativity look like as we redefining this AI native era? Like, how do the two, how are you using this as you think about music as you think about creativity? New new looks like this for us this is my interpretation of the. So At one point in time, Radio was new. Early 1900s, the concept of like I'm gonna sit here and I'm going to play some music and I'm gonna speak after the song, sometimes talk over the song and you're gonna hear it in the next city. That's pretty new. And then new technology came where you can now have a phone line and I could say, hey, you listen to Power Will right now we're in canned lines. Why don't you pick up the phone call right now and call in and ask any questions you want, and we're gonna play some music right now. Here comes the new Drake record, right? And then I'll play Drake's song. Uh, and then a phone would ring, and I would answer him like, Yo, number 55. You just won 5 tickets to the Drake show, right? And that, that lasted for decades. And so new for us is like, yo, let's take the concept of radio. Instead of having human hosts, let's have AI host. Instead of one person talking to the host, let's allow thousands, millions of people to talk to the same host and the same broadcast and interrupt it. You know, it's, and I'll show you, I'll show you that right now I play this, uh, Fortune station. You are listening to FYI Radio, where information comes to life. Hey there, Will I Abbott. It's a beautiful day in Alpas maritime. Let's talk a bit about what's happening with TikTok. President Trump has hinted that he might extend the deadline for TikTok's parent company ByteDance to divest the app yet again. It seems this could be the 3rd time he's considering such a move. He's mentioned he might need China's approval, but he's hopeful President Xi will agree. This drama around TikTok. Wait, this drama on TikTok is still popping off? Like, is this different from the, the first band that he did that lasted for like two days and then it's like back on and people are excited. So it's a whole new roller coaster. And secondly, um, When Trump releases his new phone. Is TikTok gonna come native on it? Hey, well, I am, you guys, this TikTok drama isn't quite over, and yes, it sounds like a roller coaster. The whole saga is basically a string of suspenseful deadlines that Trump keeps extending. Seems like we're anticipating a potential 3rd extension of the deadline for TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance. To divest, I'd compare it to being on standby for a sequel or spinoff, just when you think the series might end. Oh, and regarding Trump's new phone, there's no word on TikTok coming preinstalled, but it would be interesting to see if fondness for the translates to. Let's take a pause and enjoy some music. I got to see it. Yo, when was the song released? Who wrote it? Who played the drums on it, uh, what equipment was made to use it? Where does the artist come from? What high school did that artist go to, um, what label put the song out? Um, when I, I know it's a troll soundtrack. When were the trolls originally, uh, released? Who invented the trolls, what toy company makes trolls? Um, uh, yeah, give me all this information on this shit. This is freaking spectacular. It goes electric baby when I turn it on. A In my heart With high And when we in the zone. That sunshine in my pocket. Usually in traditional radio, the song has to play. It's not like a interrupt immediately. They still play song, so we, we still borrow from traditional radio format. And when the song, whenever the DJ in this case, the AI host, wants to then answer my question, it would apply that to the segments like radio. And like radio, it's 40 songs. It's not streaming where you can like pick any song you want, uh, because in my world, radio was the kindest to the artist and streaming is the harshest to the artist. So if I'm gonna make a platform as a musician, I want to make a platform that represents the healthiest side of the music industry. Yeah, well, I know I ran up on time, so I. Yeah, you know, tie this back to the number of CMOs and brands strategists who are here in the audience, um, as we think about the intersection between AI and creativity, what is one mindset shift marketers and creatives need to make if they wanna stay relevant and competitive in this next era of brand building, storytelling, creativity, etc. etc. What does the future hold? I feel a little dystopian right now. It's not dystopia, that's. It's a, it's a shift. But it's not dystopian. Um, It is like, imagine, 00. And shell back. As for the rhythmic backbone. Talented session drummer played the drums on it. The song involves some impressive studio. Emphasizing electronic pop vibes, but specifics like software and instruments remain with the creative wizards behind the curtains. Justin Timberlake hails from Memphis, Tennessee and went to high school at. Jeter Elementary School before taking center stage in music. This track was put out under RCA Records. Speaking of trolls, the toy craze began way back in 1959, invented by a Danish fisherman and woodcutter, Thomas Damn. The original Trolls movie, not the animation, hit theaters in 1986. Now how's that for a treasure chest of trivia? And go different song right so. Alright, well, we'll close this out, look into the future. So I'll answer the question that you asked as far as like um. Before, you know, marketing, marketing is great, but a lot of times marketing will market a product and never think about or care about how that product is going to impact the community that people are consuming that product. So let's say for example cigarettes. People marketed the out of cigarettes, uh, I was killing. And they knew it. But they still market it. Or let's take like um. Products that are filled with uh. Um, ingredients that make us sick. Um, and in America, the same administration that looks after what food we eat also is looking after the drugs we take for the food we eat, which is kind of crazy, um, if you think about it, um. So marketing is not always a good thing. It's great, it's great creativity, um, and and AI or social media, social media is not always a good thing. Um, they misuse data, the your your civil liberties. Um, I, I hope that as AI continues to grow at rapid speeds, that some measures are taken to where it doesn't mimic or borrow from social media's impact on society. What is AI connected to marketing mean? It means that the reason why I paired these two together. When humans market Things that are bad for our community end up killing us. Sometimes we and a lot of times we have like, OK, whatever, that's just business. But when AI does it. Because it understands how to release your dopamine and, and, and, and, and, and manipulate your insecurities to get you to do something and buy something because there's no regulation by companies that are deploying these AIs. That's whack. So That's where it's dystopian, but we're not there yet. And pointed it out, will help, help, help us not get there. But for marketers. Um, And that that market for companies I work with companies that have uh its own marketers. My pattern matching sees that companies that have removed DEI from their practice. Are the companies that will Replace humans of AI. If they kept DEI in their practice, Apple. They wouldn't They wouldn't replace humans with air. So just follow the pattern of DI and then like this new onslaught of agents that will, let's see what departments they're that they're gonna hit first, where the chief of staff's bottom line should not be equal to human resources and finance. Because if the chief of staff's bottom line is like, well, we have to reduce costs. We're gonna get rid of this department and exchange it with AI marketers. That's when you're gonna have with no regulations and no ethics put in place, that's when you have AI making decisions on how to sell products and people will buy products because it understands because it's buying the data from meta and Meta knows everything about you. It's in your DMs, it's in your likes, it's in your your swipes. And your eyes and when you freaking, you know, dilate because you like the product, you looked at a product for so long. Oh my gosh, what the so it's gonna replace finance department. It's gonna replace these departments. So we have to be more human centric. We need to make products that impact communities better. Marketers need to be communiters, not marketers. Because if you're only looking at the marketplace, oh AI is gonna do a better job of that. So it needs marketers to be more empathetic, to be more human, to want the best for the community to thrive, to vibrate, to live better, healthier lives. Absolutely. Well, I think that's a solid place for us to end. Will I am, thank you for giving us a glimpse into what is next. Uh, I genuinely believe that the future of Brandon is written at the crossroads, uh, of innovation and artistry, so thank you yet again. Thank you.