Eliette Thurn, SI Representative to the AI for Good Global Summit, blogs from the session titled ‘Human-Machine Relationship in the Age of AI’, with guest speaker will.i.am.
“We live in an amazing time!” That’s how will.i.am opened his session at this year’s AI for Good conference in Geneva — Founder and CEO of FYI, and the man behind the world-famous music group ‘Black Eyed Peas’.
He opened with a question that framed the entire session: are we worried about the technology itself, or about the regulation around it? Understanding how AI works, he argued, is a human right – not a privilege reserved for engineers, executives, or those who can afford elite education. The real barrier, he said, is a lack of access to data and education, not the technology itself.
will.i.am presents talk at AI for Good Summit
This is where his message became personal. For a long time, he noted, young people growing up in disadvantaged communities saw only two realistic paths out: sport or music. Talent in either could change a life. Today, he argued, there’s a third path – technology – but only if people are actually taught how to use it. That’s the gap we need to close.
He finished on an optimistic note, describing entire communities – often overlooked, often written off – as sitting on a “gold mine” of untapped potential. Not a metaphor for hidden resources underground, but for the people themselves: their creativity, resilience, and ideas, waiting for the access and tools to unlock them.
He explained that AI is already having positive social impact in ways we hadn’t predicted, using the memorable example of taxis that used to pass by Black passengers without stopping. Ridesharing apps like Uber quietly solved that problem – not through policy debates, but through better-designed technology. For will.i.am, it’s proof that AI and tech, built thoughtfully, can dismantle old injustices instead of repeating them.
These days, we hear so much about the dangers of AI – particularly the gender and economic biases it risks reinforcing – that it was refreshing to hear someone speak so positively about its potential instead.
