Will.I.Am launches AI-driven radio

Will.i.am has launched a new AI-led interactive radio platform.

• READ MORE: Beyond human imagination: How AI is pushing the boundaries of entertainment

The Black Eyed Peas frontman has announced ‘RAiDiO.FYI’, a new radio service that features AI presenters. The service aims to “reimagine radio the way the iPhone did for the telephone,” — according to the official website.

It comes a year after Spotify launched its AI DJ, which recognises your listening habits and suggests new songs for you using artificial intelligence. However, RAiDiO.FYI differs from Spotify’s offering in that it permits two-way communication — users can press a button to speak with the AI persona at any moment.

The platform’s AI-driven hosts will interact directly with listeners, encouraging them to ask questions about the music or the history of a song or discuss news, sports, culture and fashion. Listeners instantly become “active participants, choosing topics, asking questions, and talking with AI personas.”

Check out a video of Will.i.am demonstrating the technology below.

https://t.co/YQ7hbBNE2o joined #TheBreakfastClub to introduce a new radio experience that uses AI to enhance the radio experience for the hosts and DJs.

If you could decrease your research time, would you do it? Listen in to hear more about https://t.co/aQmYijNDwJ! @iamwill… pic.twitter.com/PCRbjEZn5W

— Power 105.1 (@Power1051) August 21, 2024

Last year, Will.i.am used an appearance Sirius XM to share his thoughts on whether or not AI is benefitting the music industry. In response, the Grammy Award-winning polymath said: “We all have voices, and everyone’s compromised because there are no rights or ownership to your facial math or your voice frequency.”

He explained his cynicism, adding: “You’re getting a FaceTime or a Zoom call and because there’s no intelligence on the call, there’s nothing to authenticate an AI call or a person call.”

He continued: “That’s the urgent thing, protecting our facial math. 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?”

The news comes at a time when AI’s role in the music industry is increasingly up for debate. Earlier this month, K-pop entertainment giant SM Entertainment announced the upcoming debut of its first AI-generated singer, named nævis.

Earlier this year, over 200 artists including Billie Eilish, Robert Smith, Stevie Wonder and Nicki Minaj signed an open letter put together by the Artists Rights Alliance, warning against the “predatory” use of AI in music.

Many hip-hop legends have also chimed in on the AI music debate. Producer Timbaland previewed an AI-generated Notorious B.I.G verse and is working on AI software to commercialise the phenomenon. Whereas, Snoop Dogg said AI music has got “outta hand” in regards to a Michael Jackson AI cover of C-Murder‘s ‘Down With My N’s’.

Recently, Sting said AI “doesn’t impress” him and that songwriters will have to defend “our human capital against AI.”  Whereas, Smashing Pumpkins‘ Billy Corgan said “AI will change music forever” since others can “game the system” and “not going to spend 10,000 hours in a basement.”

Peter Hook has also taken aim at songs written with the help of AI, saying that each one created has always been “shit”.

One of the most prolific instances of an artist speaking out, however, came from Bad Seeds frontman Nick Cave, who described the concept as “a grotesque mockery of what it is to be human”. He later added that he wanted AI platforms like ChatGPT to “fuck off and leave songwriting alone”.

Similarly, Guns N’ Roses members Slash and Duff McKagan also weighed in on the debate, with the former saying that the use of the technology “does not really thrill me” and the latter telling NME that he had no plans to let AI “affect my creativity”.

Former Oasis members also spoke out after a UK band used AI to imagine what the Britpop icons might sound like if they were to reform and release a new album.

At the time, Liam hailed what he’d heard of the album, writing: “It’s better than all the other snizzle out there,” while Noel Gallagher told NME during an interview: “These fucking idiots have clearly got too much time on their hands and too much money that they can afford the technology to fucking piss around doing that for a laugh.”

Grimes has been particularly vocal about her support for evolving music technology, including AI. Last year, she gave fans her blessing to use her voice to create new music using AI as long as she gets half of any royalties made from the tracks, as she would with any artist she works with.

In other Will.i.am news, he recently revealed that U2 were the inspiration behind Black Eyed Peas‘ hit song ‘I Gotta Feeling’, with the musician saying he “wrote the chorus for them”.

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