Generative AI is a heated topic in every circle, but possibly not as much as in the music world. More and more, AI-generated artists and songs worm their way onto streaming platforms and Billboard charts. Lately, it seems to be happening right under our noses. It feels like the most recent universal embarrassment is learning you’ve been listening to AI music without your own consent.
But despite the divisive nature of AI discussions, those discussions are still happening. And they’re still trying to find ways of validating the use of AI in the arts.
In January 2026, Black Eyed Peas hitmaker will.i.am spoke with CNBC. There, he compared using AI in music to the adoption of sampling in music production.
“Imagine it’s 1970, we’re talking about jazz here, right?” he said, per a report from Music Tech. “A jazz musician would say, ‘What do you think about these samplers that are coming? People just sampling our stuff that we did back in the past. You think that’s music?’
“Turns out that that’s the form of hip-hop sampling and using technology to reimagine and chop up and reconfigure,” he added.
Will.i.am Seems To View AI As Yet Another Technological Advance
In terms of sampling, which gave birth to an important aspect of modern hip-hop, will.i.am said that he can’t really be too hard on AI. That, he said, comes down to the fact that his career was built on sampling.
“So I can’t be that critical [of] AI, because I have a career sampling music,” he said. However, the example of AI-generated music versus a human musician sampling existing songs doesn’t really compare as well as will.i.am may think it does. But, as previously stated, AI is a hot-button issue, and everyone has their opinion.
Additionally, will.i.am shared that he felt AI developers should get more credit for their work. “At the core of AI music is some developer, and though that’s their art, you can’t discredit their art for creating that algorithm to create,” he said. “Yes, they did borrow from music. They did train on, you know, the entire library that humans have made and that people should be paid for.”
He continued, “We’re going to get to a point 20 years from now where it would have evolved, and it’s not about training on yesterday’s music. We have to prepare ourselves for that, too. Because the AI that we’re concerned about is not here yet, and that is the AI that’s creating just on its own.”
Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Live Nation
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