will.i.am

Why organisations work with will.i.am

• He builds at the frontier rather than commenting on it. FYI.AI, the AI collaboration platform he founded and runs as CEO, has shipped consumer products including RAiDiO.FYI and an in-car integration with Mercedes-AMG.
• An operator’s understanding of how technology firms commercialise consumer experiences. He was a founding equity partner in Beats Electronics, sold to Apple for USD 3 billion, and Intel’s Director of Creative Innovation across a multi-year run on devices.
• A serious counter-argument to AI maximalism, grounded in artistic practice. His core thesis is that AI must be a catalyst for human imagination, not a substitute, a line that lands credibly with leadership teams under board pressure to deploy AI everywhere.
• Cultural reach few technology speakers command. The Black Eyed Peas have sold over 75 million records, and his keynote work has been picked up by Accenture, IBM, JPMorgan Chase, Salesforce, and the World Economic Forum.
• A philanthropic record that gives the AI argument substance. The i.am Angel Foundation funds STEAM education for over 12,000 students in Los Angeles, in partnership with the Smithsonian Science Education Center and FIRST Robotics.

Biography highlights

• Founder and CEO of FYI.AI, an AI-powered creative collaboration platform launched in 2023.
• Founding member of the Black Eyed Peas; nine Grammy Awards, one Latin Grammy, one Emmy, one CLIO.
• Founding equity partner in Beats Electronics, acquired by Apple in 2014 for USD 3 billion.
• Director of Creative Innovation at Intel from 2011, working across consumer compute devices.
• Recipient of the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award and an Honorary Fellowship from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (UK).
• Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations ITU AI Skills Coalition; Professor of Practice in the GAME School at Arizona State University.

Biography

Most senior teams are still arguing about whether to treat AI as a tool, a colleague, or a threat. will.i.am has spent the last decade building products that force a decision. FYI.AI, the creative collaboration platform he founded and runs, treats AI as a working partner inside the production workflow rather than a feature bolted onto it. RAiDiO.FYI, its consumer-facing radio product, now ships inside Mercedes-AMG vehicles.

The pattern is older than the current AI cycle. He was a founding equity partner in Beats Electronics before Apple acquired it in 2014 for USD 3 billion, and Intel’s Director of Creative Innovation from 2011 across laptops, tablets, and smartphones. In each case the contribution was the same: a working view of how consumer technology actually becomes culture, and what that means for the companies trying to ship it.

The Black Eyed Peas, which he co-founded, have sold more than 75 million records and won nine Grammys. That cultural reach gives the AI argument a different kind of credibility with boards. He has been recognised with the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award and an Honorary Fellowship from the Institution of Engineering and Technology in the UK, and serves as a UN ITU Goodwill Ambassador for the AI Skills Coalition.

His argument to leadership teams is direct. AI should accelerate human imagination, not replace it, and the organisations that get this wrong will spend the next decade producing work nobody wants to consume. He grounds the point through the i.am Angel Foundation, which funds STEAM education for over 12,000 students in Los Angeles, including a Smithsonian Science Education Center partnership and a FIRST Robotics programme run with founder Dean Kamen.

Key speaking topics

• Artificial intelligence and creativity
• AI in consumer products and brand
• The future of music and media in an AI economy
• Technology, education, and access
• Innovation at the intersection of culture and engineering
• Building consumer technology platforms

Ideal for

• Boards and CEOs setting the corporate position on generative AI
• Chief marketing and brand officers reframing creative production around AI
• Innovation and R&D leads exploring AI applications in consumer products
• Conference programmes that need a credible artist-technologist voice on AI

Audience outcomes

• A sharper view of where AI multiplies human creative work and where it erodes it
• Working examples of AI inside shipped consumer products, from a founder who built them
• An understanding of how to commercialise technology through culture, not in spite of it
• A reframing of the AI conversation away from compliance fear and towards creative leverage