“A lot of times Prince’s drums were LinnDrums. That wasn’t a human playing the drums on some of the Prince songs. That too was a machine”: will.i.am says that musicians should be inspired by AI in the same way that he was inspired by Prince

will.i.am has long been of the view that creators should be inspired by AI rather than afraid of it - back in 2023 he described it as “the new renaissance” - and the Black Eyed Peas man has been talking about it in positive terms once again at the 2025 CES Show in Las Vegas. In fact, he says that he views the technology in a similar way to… Prince.

That sounds like quite an unlikely comparison, so we’d better let him explain. The basic thrust of will’s argument is that, like Prince, AI is “awesome”, and “awesomeness” is inspiring.

Speaking to Variety, he said: "I was going to make awesome music just like Prince did, and then somebody be like, 'Hey, but Prince ain't a robot, though.’ I'm like, yeah, but he was awesome, and awesome is awesome. But, more importantly, Prince's awesomeness did not dim my light. Prince's awesomeness inspired me. And if you are now going to be afraid of being inspired, then you ain't truly creative."

will.i.am warmed further to this theme when he spoke to CNBC, pointing out that technology has always played a part in music creation, and that AI is just the next step.

“How many songs on TikTok and on Spotify have human drummers playing drums?,” he asked those who are worried about ‘non-human’ music production. “Fact is we are already in a machine-dominated music environment, and that doesn’t take the imagination and ideation away from true creatives.

“So [for] hyper-creatives and true creatives… it’s just a new computer. And yes, AI’s going to make some pretty awesome music. So did Prince. So did Michael Jackson. Yes, they were human, and a lot of times Prince’s drums were LinnDrums. That wasn’t a human playing the drums on some of the Prince songs. That too was a machine.”

Summing up, will.i.am threw down the gauntlet to musicians and other artists, urging them to up their game in the brave new world of AI. “If you’re that type of creative that gets haunted or trembling, then maybe you need to rethink just how much of a creative you are, because this is a realm that we’re in that should catapult you, that should supercharge you to wanna compete at the highest level of competition,” he says. “That’s the type of creators we need right now. This is that renaissance - Leonardo DiCaprios and Leonardo da Vincis come out.”

will.i.am was at CES to promote his new collaboration with LG: a set of xboom Bluetooth speakers and earbuds. The speakers all have discreet AI capabilities that automatically analyse the content being played and adjust it to accentuate the melody, rhythm of voice, depending on your preference. There’s also AI-powered multicoloured and synced lighting and AI calibration that promises to help the speakers adapt to their surroundings to deliver optimised performance.

Find out more on the LG website.