Will.i.am Staying Ahead Of Trends With His Next Tech Investment In Large Concept Models

Will.i.am is on the “hunt” for young fresh tech talent able to build large concept models.

Will.i.am stays ahead of the latest tech trends with his newest investment in large concept models.

According to the Grammy-winning musician, entrepreneur, and investor, large concept models in the rapidly expanding world of artificial intelligence are poised to be the next big thing.

“I’m hunting for what they call large concept models,” Will.i.am told Fortune.

“Right now, we’re in large language models, but they’re not concepts. It’s just language—they’re just regurgitating our imagination and our concepts,” he explained.

Will.i.am, an early investor in OpenAI and the founder of FYI—an AI-driven productivity and communication platform for creatives—has been ahead of the AI boom. Now, he’s aiming to stay ahead by seeking out young tech talent specializing in large concept models.

“Around the corner, someone’s going to build large concept models. So you want to hunt for that,” Will.i.am explained. “You want to hunt for the people that are out there doing that. They’re students right now, they’re at MIT, they’re at Stanford. They’re young kids, and they’re native to this. So you want to hunt for that. That’s the only thing I’m focused on.”

The “Where Is The Love” rapper highlighted his “pretty cool” early investments, which helped him develop an eye for spotting the following big tech trends: His portfolio includes Tesla, Pinterest, Dropbox, OpenAI, and Anthropic.

“I invested in Tesla in 2006, before Elon [Musk] took over the company, and he’s done great, taking it to where it is. Hopefully, he can figure out a way to get it back to its glory,” he shared. “I invested in Twitter early on. When Jack [Dorsey] left, I sold it. Made good there.”

One investment, Will.i.am, now regrets missing out on is Airbnb. When approached to invest $200,000 in an early fundraising round, he didn’t see the vision then. However, he views the experience as a valuable lesson.

“When you travel and you have success, you get used to the best hotels, the best service, right? So sometimes, when you’re used to the best, and you’re used to being pampered by the best, that could cripple you because when new experiences come, like Airbnb, you’re gonna base it off of the best,” Will.i.am explained.

“You’re gonna say, hey, so you guys have concierge, and he’s gonna say, no. That ain’t gonna work. So you guys have room service? No. That ain’t gonna work. So I was tunnel vision and pampered by luxury.”