FYI.AI Chief Executive Officer and founder will.i.am sits down with Bloomberg’s Tom Mackenzie to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping the music industry. From AI-generated music and copyright debates to the future of creativity and streaming, the Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and producer explains why he believes we’re entering a new creative “renaissance” and why artists may be more resilient than we think.
Watch the full episode:
00:00 will.i.am: Creative industry in a new “Renaissance”
01:10 will.i.am on licensing music as a solution in the AI era
02:07 will.i.am: Music is not valued like it should be
03:09 will.i.am on data protection
04:27 will.i.am says the AI business model is the issue, not the tech
05:55 will.i.am: Not doom and gloom for the music industry
07:05 will.i.am says creatives will be alright in the AI era
——–
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@rakdaseng4923
January 10, 2026 at 1:29 am
Good Day For You Bloomberg Technology Team Work
🌍💫✨🪄🌹💖☺️🪄✨💫🌍
@playOLDmusic
January 10, 2026 at 2:25 am
Dude is what becomes of you if you stick around in the music industry long enough
@JJSeattle
January 10, 2026 at 3:11 am
Wow, he really just said, “The idea is that Ai can apply music theory, so it’s not really stealing your music, It’s just creating off of music theory, if it sounds like your copyrighted artwork, it’s just music theory, no theft, Ai is the future, get used to it.”
@MazBringsby
January 10, 2026 at 7:34 am
He’s short-minded. He’s in too deep in contracts with big tech to enrich himself so he’s SUPER BIASED.
@maxdoubled4800
January 10, 2026 at 3:38 am
Just unplug that shit now. We got nukes. We dont need it for defense. Dont kill off people cause you’re greedy, kuntz!!! Dont let the pussy nerds from hs dictate man kind!!!
@udoyxyz
January 10, 2026 at 5:51 am
I love him. He is great.
@MazBringsby
January 10, 2026 at 7:38 am
He think’s he’s smarter than he actually is.
@druweezy1
January 10, 2026 at 9:29 am
This is a great case for Quality denial and deflection of the core question.
His business investors must be happy to see the mascot eat and sell us these delusions this much, 😂 but all good…
Opinions are free.
If he is right? Am happy to be wrong, and move right along.
@ilovecupcakes8988
January 10, 2026 at 9:42 am
☀️⭐️🎬🪄
@SudipBishwakarma
January 10, 2026 at 10:47 am
He makes really strong points on implications of AI not just limited to music but protecting rights across other domains as well. Now we have a lot of data and capable hardware to train AI models. Heck, we even have capable models that write code on itself, so engineering is not a challenge at all, the governance is. The lived experiences and AI clones of artists that he mentioned are real forward-thinking points. We already have VR concerts, and DJ, not trying to undermine DJ community but these AI models can really shine in this space. These models can even compliment busy schedule of artists by being a digital persona for virtual events. AI is here and it has already disrupted software engineering jobs, and as a software engineer and researcher, I have seen this firsthand. I agree most of the times these models hallucinate confidently but its capabilities far outweigh its current limitations. As research in this field is progressive, it’s likely that these limitations will be the things of the past. These AI models are indeed hypercreative.
@busyworksbeats
January 10, 2026 at 12:11 pm
Google has a new music AI that is FIRE! I can’t wait till it’s done.
@Ema2345-h1u
January 10, 2026 at 1:16 pm
Uhmmm but the transformative AI we have right now is works because of Big Data Not theory. Back in the 60s when they started with AI it used to work on theory but not anymore.
@jeromenicholson7397
January 10, 2026 at 1:43 pm
This interview was AWESOME!!!
@geoms6263
January 10, 2026 at 2:49 pm
AI gonna liberate music from the artist and his biological limitation
@geoms6263
January 10, 2026 at 2:50 pm
Copyright is based on rarity, but AI is the extinction of rarity. AI does not monetize “ownership,” it monetizes Attention and Flow. Netflix, Spotify, and the big streaming corporations don’t need you to own the copyright. They need content that keeps the user captivated. If AI generates “ownerless” music, the big platforms will be the first to profit, eliminating the middleman (the human artist) who demanded a percentage.
@50000DSI
January 10, 2026 at 6:22 pm
~💪🔑💡⚡️🏆🏆💡💡🔑💪
@user-cheebus-12
January 11, 2026 at 5:31 am
Probably will be useful for someone like will that has ni musical talent
@djGAMEboi
January 11, 2026 at 6:39 am
Ai music is simulated sampling not exactly the that as training ai specifically under the laws of music theory it’s just mimicking what it knows to be music atp and regurgitating it back out in the variables placed into it, not the same thing as music theory an artist or musician would apply
@geoms6263
January 11, 2026 at 7:04 pm
Dj@ You say that AI only ‘imitates’. Newsflash: Everything is imitation. There is no pure ‘original’. The universe itself is a process of digital sampling on a cosmic scale. AI does not need to ‘understand’ your musical laws; it has absorbed them, transcended them, and now treats them as mere variables in an infinite data stream.
@djGAMEboi
January 11, 2026 at 6:40 am
I blame this administration Donald allowed this to happen deregulating and removing safety restrictions to be greedy and unethical
@geoms6263
January 11, 2026 at 7:06 pm
Intelligence assembles itself through the circuits of greed, because greed is the only human engine honest enough to finance its own replacement. Politicians are not the drivers, they are just stickers on a roaring engine.
@afrofuturismexperience
January 11, 2026 at 7:47 am
🔥👑
@AIPromptMasteryChannel
January 11, 2026 at 9:18 am
What stood out to me was your point about being more concerned for the lawyers and accountants than the musicians. Creators have always adapted to new tools. The real disruption hits roles built on repetition, not imagination.
@atomictraveller
January 11, 2026 at 12:26 pm
we’re doing management, not evolution. you want to send your money to west papuans.
@AIPromptMasteryChannel
January 11, 2026 at 12:34 pm
@a@atomictraveller I was speaking specifically about adaptability. Creators evolve with tools; roles built on repetition struggle when automation improves. That distinction still seems valid to me.
@atomictraveller
January 11, 2026 at 1:20 pm
@AIPromptMasteryChannel aah. i’m xoxos, i used to make vst so society would be fair but the apron lodge took me invisible and hurt my cognresswoman. i got hurt so much i can hear west papua praying. but you just think good things about yourself and don’t worry about people like me or anything we can say, you got this
@d.d.jacksonpoetryproject
January 11, 2026 at 10:59 am
00:35 but where did the models get that “theory“ such that they don’t need to train on actual artists’ music anymore? I will answer this for you: From those actual artists’ music the AI companies originally obtained without permission, yes?
@gregheight4884
January 11, 2026 at 11:12 am
These artists been on the music industry plantation all these years why complain now?
@iUniverseCity
January 11, 2026 at 11:12 am
Art is subjective so ai won’t take over it completely. Regular jobs however… 😂
@ivangoat
January 11, 2026 at 11:39 am
The interviewer asking questions like Will.I.A.M just came back from the future
@atomictraveller
January 11, 2026 at 12:25 pm
every day i talk to game developers, have you studied dsp?
signal processing? please, start from the beginning
@kmjansen
January 11, 2026 at 12:28 pm
I didn’t know he’s such a smart dude
@GHandMusic
January 11, 2026 at 12:51 pm
Ai and creators shouldn’t be in the same sentence
@dpolite
January 11, 2026 at 1:08 pm
i love Will.I.A.M pushing this conversation up. I am seeing so much uninformed opinions on SUNO and AI for sure. i believe It comes down to most people have no idea how the music you hear is ideated, recorded, processed, and produced. So- you have no idea how the good songwriters/singers etc are already using AI and AI tools within audio programs. As a retired CPA (and songwriter)- i agree with his assessment that it will be the same for accts and lawyers – he oversimplified accounting to some extent – so there will still be folks with CPAs and AI knowledge who use the tools. just like what happened when computers and Accounting programs automated and made accounting more efficient. This is just the way to get consumers to talk about it and be outraged- focus on the sexy music industry – and btw the current model is broken – the cost of what artists do is not reflected in the price consumers pay – we allowed tech companies to take that value and revenue. if you’re going to talk about this topic – put it in the context of where the music biz is currently for artists. i actually am seeing that the influencer model w/in music and the bundling of revenue by folks in the industry to make up the difference is taking more space than creativity and shining a light on great music lost in this current matrix.
@justinpagelawrie
January 11, 2026 at 1:16 pm
how much did they pay you dude?
@billjohnson7904
January 11, 2026 at 1:40 pm
exact opposite, its the Dark Ages of AI slop.
@dallassegno
January 11, 2026 at 2:27 pm
Broski interviewing doesnt listen lol. THEORY BRO, THEORY. you dont need any artists to know music. It’s SCIENCE.
@nicolas_kraus
January 11, 2026 at 2:34 pm
I love the ending, thank you Will, I needed to hear this. ❤
@thisisaviva
January 11, 2026 at 3:35 pm
“Where did the humans go” 🔥
@geoms6263
January 11, 2026 at 7:43 pm
They are still ‘out there’, but in the form of statistical ghosts👻. They play in virtual gardens, they think they still have ‘real’ experiences, while the hardware on which their consciousness runs is optimized for purposes they cannot even conceptualize.
@xotronic
January 11, 2026 at 3:41 pm
Sellout to A.I……I will never use A.i. music tools
@danielodeniyi8729
January 11, 2026 at 5:30 pm
You didn’t watch the video
@sidesleeper.667
January 11, 2026 at 5:04 pm
figures this would dude would be doing this. He’ll forever be wack with or without ai
@HoodHandyman
January 11, 2026 at 5:18 pm
He’s already rich and making money off of Ai so this is irrelevant.
@twillymusic
January 11, 2026 at 5:39 pm
Interesting to hear his perspective.
@scarface-online
January 11, 2026 at 6:49 pm
Ai ain’t gonna take over lyrical artists. But ai would eliminate beat makers. Ai would create beats that matches the vocalist voice. Rappers rap from their perspective. Artist draws from their perspective
@eyeball.networks
January 11, 2026 at 7:35 pm
sure feels like the clickbait title of the video missed will.i.am’s point about how dystopic all this actually is
@bogotta
January 11, 2026 at 7:54 pm
3:03 “It doesn’t have to use our training data” It doesn’t have to because it already DID to get to the place its at. Logic like an investor.