The rise of A.I. rattled the music industry, but will.i.am’s concerns go beyond music.
Will.i.am discussed A.I. technology in an interview with SiriusXM Hits 1. The Black Eyed Peas member shifted the conversation away from music, instead focusing on how A.I. will affect everyone.
“There’s going to be a fourth industry that’s coming, and this fourth industry is not just for musicians and artists,” he said. “This fourth industry is for my moms, your cousins, your nieces, your tías, your tíos, your abuelitas, your abuelitos, your brothers, your sisters, your nieces and your nephews. Why? Because we all have voices, and everyone’s compromised because there are no rights or ownership to your facial math or your voice frequency.”
He continued, “So, forget songs. Banks! People calling up your bank pretending to be you. Forget songs. Just family matters and wiring money. You’re getting a FaceTime or a Zoom call and because there’s no intelligence on the call, there’s nothing to authenticate A.I. call or a person call.”
Will.i.am thought there were more pressing issues than A.I. generated songs.
“That’s the urgent thing, protecting our facial math,” he said. “I am my face math, I don’t own that. I own the rights to ‘I Got A Feeling,’ I own the rights to the songs I wrote, but I don’t own the rights to my face or my voice? There’s new laws and new industries about to boof. This time next year you’ll be like, ‘will.i.am said that on that radio station.’ Fact is, these are all new parameters that we’re all trying to navigate around because the technology is that amazing and with amazingness comes regulations and governance that we have yet to implement.”
Listen to will.i.am below.