will.i.am teaching new Agentic A.I. course at ASU

TEMPE, Ariz. - Music icon will.i.am, who became famous as the frontman for the Black Eyed Peas, is now adding college professor to his resume, teaching a new course centered around artificial intelligence at Arizona State University.

What we know:

will.i.am is teaching an Agentic A.I. course called The Agentic Self in Tempe and in Los Angeles, allowing him to connect with students who he says are key when it comes to using AI ethically. 

He says his students range in age from 19 to 60 years old, and they all have the potential to be key players in the future use of A.I.

"You can use A.I. or A.I. can use you," will.i.am said.

Will.i.am came to Arizona State’s campus nearly 30 years ago for a performance. Now, he spends his time on campus teaching students about Agentic A.I., which implements private "agents" who act with the intentions of their creators in mind. Rather than relying on a chatbot to prompt something, this "agent" reasons, adapts, and accomplishes tasks with minimal input.

What He's Saying:

The goal is to make A.I. less scary and more user-friendly.

"One thing a person building agents right now can do, just go to any strip mall, any mom-and-pop restaurant, and outfit them with an agent of their own and transform your medium to small business, your small business, your mom-and-pop shop with agents," will.i.am said.

Big picture view:

On a larger scale, will.i.am is hoping to address larger societal issues with the help of the bright minds in his cohort. He says this is a path for creative thinking that he feels can make a difference in the world, and is a way to combat the future landslide of job replacement by keeping the creator’s intentions and beliefs present in the tasks.

"First is financial literacy. A.I. can help self-educate with financial literacy," will.i.am said. "A.I. can help motivate somebody that has an idea to help materialize it, to help go from ideation to materialization. A.I. can help unmask or uncover complex problems that people don’t know; just why our neighborhoods are configured with liquor store, check cashing, bad food, strip club, school, and the combination of that horrible cocktail. How do you resolve that?"

What's next:

will.i.am is set to continue teaching this cohort next semester, which he says will be an accelerated version of what is being taught this semester in order to accelerate at the pace of this technology.