Black Eyed Peas member Will.i.am didn't grow up thinking about becoming an entrepreneur, but he knows hustle culture well.
"Remove the word hustle (and the) Jay Zs of the world, Nases of the world, Russell Simmons of the world, Run DMC. L.L. Cool J, we're all entrepreneurs," Will.i.am said, "because that's survival. It's how you get out of the predicament" that you're in.
Will.i.am, whose full name is William Adam, made the comments on Wednesday during a one-on-one conversation with MSNBC reporter Stephanie Ruhle during Dreamforce in San Francisco. Their discussion was titled "Democratizing Entrepreneurship in an AI-First World."
No longer in survival mode with an estimated net worth of $70 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth, Will.i.am has launched several products over the past couple of decades including a voice-activated operating system, wireless earbuds and two different smart watches. Most recently, he launched an organization called FYI.ai that's focused on tech tools to artists.
In 2021, he designed a $300 "smart mask" with Honeywell after Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff introduced the artist to Honeywell's chief executive, the NYT reported at the time.
He also co-founded an AI-focused music and technology platform called I.Am+ in 2012, which has raised $123 million through investors including Salesforce Ventures, GVA Capital, Access Industries and GEM Asset, according to PitchBook.
"My instrument of choice in music is the computer. Barely played the piano, barely keep time playing drums," he said.
Will.i.am is not naïve about the potential negative, and even malicious, uses for AI, he said, but he chooses to be optimistic about the opportunities that will come from both AI and web3.
"Coming out of the projects was hard enough, and if I can get out of the projects staying optimistic and thinking the best of humanity, I want to look at it from that perspective, not from a naïve, blind optimism, but a purposeful, inspirational optimism," he said.
He also sees AI and web3 as democratizing technologies that bring the same opportunities and the same pain to people across various socioeconomic levels.
"I love tech. I love where we're going, it's amazing," he said, but "we all thought it was gonna be 2030, and we thought it was only going to be blue collar jobs. White collar jobs are at risk, as well. But that being said, new industries are gonna pop."
And the world will see new communities rise to become epicenters of innovation, he predicted. "Tomorrow's industries are going to come from Ghana, Nigeria, Watts, Compton," he said.
