According to Mildenhall, over the next two years, new leaders in AI creative will emerge alongside “AI influencers” as they share their successes and failures in embracing the technology.

“My biggest call is for people to experiment and for people to share their learnings, the good and bad learnings,” he added, “so that over the next few years we can all start to develop this new creative muscle with this new creative.”

We’re going to see brand reputation being manipulated by bad actors using this content. So governance is key.

Jonathan Mildenhall, CEO, TwentyFirstCenturyBrand

Mildenhall also spoke about the response to Bud Light’s partnership with trans creator Dylan Mulvaney, a mistake he warned could be repeated using AI technology to create negative content for brands that looks authentic. This, he believes, means there is a need for governance to prevent bad actors from producing deepfakes and seemingly official content, especially with the upcoming presidential election in the U.S.

“We’re going to see brand reputation being manipulated by bad actors using this content. So governance is key,” he said.

Will.i.am also discussed FYI, the creative tech platform and online community he created. Inspired by early pandemic social restrictions, FYI allows creatives to collaborate remotely by bringing together communication and content creation tools in one place.

The money raised by FYI is being used to fund his own organization, which provides tech training for younger people to give them opportunities in the future as the world evolves to become even more tech-focused.

“Peloton did use FYI as a tool for their community to create content,” will.i.am said. “You would see content that is far more authentic and far more effective than content that any advertising agency can do.”