will.i.am Aims To Bring Robotics And AI Training To Youth In Under-Resourced Neighborhoods – AfroTech
will.i.am is working to ensure that children from low-income communities are prepared with skills in robotics and agentic systems.
will.i.am is an innovator whose work spans music and technology. However, the root of his work ethic lies in his time growing up in the Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, housing project. He credits some of his most meaningful memories to that time, noting that those experiences gave him the ability to dream.
“If someone said, ‘Hey, gimme all your Black Eyed Peas memories for your project memories,’ I would give my Black Eyed Peas memories away because the memories in the projects were my ingredients to get those Black Eyed Peas memories. It’s the most wonderful thing that I could ever imagine,” will.i.am told AFROTECH™ at CES 2026.
Still, he was clear that his upbringing came with real challenges, including the loss of friends who passed away or were sent to prison, and even once standing in line at the welfare office for unemployment.
“It was hard … If you only look at the bad, it was tough. But the good that happened there was, wow. Just looking back, thinking about it, how fun summers were, even though it was like, ‘I wonder who’s not gonna make it this summer,’ … But still, it was magical. And it’s the reason why I am who I am. Why I rock, how I rock. It built the environment for me to imagine in and build a fantasy,” he said.
will.i.am’s Business Ventures
will.i.am’s music portfolio includes hits such as “Imma Be,” “Pump It,” “Scream & Shout,” and most recently “East LA.” He is also a serial investor in tech companies such as Tesla, Twitter (now X), Dropbox, Pinterest, OpenAI, Anthropic, Lovable, and Beats Electronics.
And he’s not just investing in technology, he is taking part in building new tech. This includes FYI RAiDiO, which is an AI-powered, interactive, conversational media platform with AI hosts from various backgrounds from Miami to East London, as AFROTECH™ previously told you. Users can ask the host about different topics across sports, pop culture, and politics before jamming out to music on radio stations. The platform also functions as a productivity tool for creators looking to draft stories, song lyrics, marketing copy, and product descriptions, according to a press release shared with AFROTECH™.
boombag
At CES 2026, will.i.am unveiled boombag, described as a “new fusion of high‑end bag design and powerful portable audio,” according to a press release shared with AFROTECH™.
The company welcomes collaborations from artists, brands, designers, and musicians to tell stories through limited drops featuring different colorways, textures, and materials.
Artists involved in designing a boombag can also expect to create their own agent that will serve as a host for an FYI RAiDiO station. The press release described the agent as, “an intelligent channel that can speak, play, recommend, reason, browse, banter, and evolve with the community that wears it.”
TRINITY
What’s more, will.i.am has also launched TRINITY, both a company and an all‑electric, self‑balancing, single‑passenger 3‑wheeler vehicle. The company is powered by NVIDIA DGX Spark technology and uses AI agents to facilitate a user’s driving experience. According to a press release shared with AFROTECH™, Trinity is not an autonomous vehicle, but rather a collaboration between humans, vehicles, and AI technology.
It was unveiled at CES 2026 with features like FYI RAiDiO integration and the ability to manage errands, communications, and cloud services.
“It’s brains on wheels, designed from the agent up,” will.i.am said in the press release.
Project TRINITY
will.i.am is also making sure that younger generations are a part of these advancements in technology.
Through his i.am.angel Foundation, he has ensured students in under-resourced neighborhoods in East Los Angeles can gain experience in robotics, computer science, and other STEAM pathways, according to the foundation’s website. will.i.am told AFROTECH™ that the foundation has supported hundreds of youth robotics teams and more than 15,000 students in partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Now, with the launch of TRINITY, will.i.am wants to expand his work in youth education into micromobility and advanced manufacturing to create career pathways in autonomy, robotics, and agentic systems.
will.i.I am is launching Project TRINITY, he told AFROTECH™, and hopes to return to his Boyle Heights neighborhood to build a factory that will not only franchise TRINITY, but also house a university to train local residents in the aforementioned arenas.
“Once we raise the funds for my neighborhood, you duplicate that to other neighborhoods. And it’s awesome when it’s adjacent to the projects because, guess what’s adjacent to projects anyways? If you go to any project in America, you go up the block, down the street, there’s gonna be a factory there. There is no project next to some nice houses. There is no project in America that’s not next to some factory. So why can’t the factory that’s next to the project be the [TRINITY] factory,” he shared.
After Boyle Heights, will.i.am hopes to continue expanding across the U.S.
