“It’s an awesome time to be creative and use AI. Don’t just use it to do what we did yesterday because it’s going to do it better than you. AI does not have imagination. It’s a regurgitation of imagination. And the way to beat it to be AI-proof is to throw your imagination on full f—king blast and not repeat what we did yesterday.”
So declared Will.i.am during an informative and illuminating panel discussion hosted on Wednesday (Jan. 28) by the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC), Universal Music Group (UMG) and Billboard. The seven-time Grammy winner and soon-to-be professor, who will be teaching a new AI course at Arizona State University this spring, joined a mix of executives and creatives in dissecting the technology’s benefits and challenges at the event, which was held under the banner, “Artists & Music in the Age of AI.”
The afternoon event, held at Will.i.am’s FYI campus in Los Angeles, was composed of two panels. The first, moderated by Blue Note Records president and musician Don Was, featured Stability AI’s Prem Akkaraju, Songwriters of North America executive and songwriter Erin McAnally, Splice’s Kakul Srivastava and Sound Labs executive and artist BT. Sitting with Will.i.am on the second panel were KLAY Vision’s Ary Attie, NVIDIA’s Shari Reich and Udio’s Andrew Sanchez.
The first panel’s moderator, UMG executive vp and chief digital officer Michael Nash, summed up the conversation’s consensus. “The hopeful thing is we’re having this discussion now,” he said. “It’s early days, and there is an opportunity for a collaboration to take place that’s going to align the future of AI- driven innovation with the interests of the artist community.”
During the event, BMAC co-founder and president/CEO Willie “Prophet” Stiggers said in part, “Innovation should expand opportunity, not erase it. We’re proud to partner with Universal Music Group on a groundbreaking convening that brings CEOs, artists and advocates into the same room. We also thank the technology companies … who showed up in true partnership by bringing creatives into the conversation. When creators are included in the decision-making, innovation becomes a force for progress, not disruption. A seat at the table for creators is not optional. It is essential.”
Later that evening, BMAC hosted its annual Music Maker Dinner in association with producer icons Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis at West Hollywood’s Sun Rose Room. Among the industry executives joining fellow BMAC co-founders Shawn Holiday, Caron Veazey and Damien Smith were ASCAP president Paul Williams, Def Jam Recordings CEO Tunji Balogun, Victoria Monet, Jon Batiste, Adam Blackstone, B2K, Flavor Flav, Amazon’s global head of music industry and culture collaborations Phylicia Fant and Interscope Geffen A&M’s president/head of urban A&R Nicole Wyskoarko.
Jonathan Azu, founder/CEO of artist management firm Culture Collective (Leon Thomas), received BMAC’s inaugural Music Maker Impact Award. And the winners of the 2026 BMAC x ASCAP x Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis Music Maker Grant were announced: Ripton Powell from Atlanta and Sam Paulino from Burlington, Vt.
BMAC kicked off its Grammy Week observance with the Tuesday (Jan. 27) masterclass “Am I The Drama? How Cardi B Turned Authenticity into a Marketing Superpower.” Key members of Cardi B‘s team —including manager and Giant Music co-founder Holiday, day-to-day manager at Full Stop Management Courtney Worrell, Atlantic Records executive vp of sales & streaming Angelique Jones and Walmart head of experiential marketing & cultural engagement Allison Barrie Rand — spoke with moderator and cultural marketer Sierra Lever. BMAC partnered with CURATED by Live Nation in organizing the session about Cardi B, whose Little Miss Drama Tour begins Feb. 11.
