Pop star-turned-Arizona State University professor will.i.am teaches "The Agentic Self" at his headquarters in Los Angeles, Calif., on Jan. 14, 2026. Emily Choi/FYI.AI hide caption

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Emily Choi/FYI.AI

The Black Eyed Peas spoke to a generation in the 2000s with tracks like "I Gotta Feeling," "Let's Get it Started" and "Where is the Love?"

Lately, however, co-founder will.i.am has been speaking to a new generation – quite literally – with his three-hour-long, weekly classes for Arizona State University on the theme of "agentic AI."

Either beamed in on screens from Arizona State's main campus, or right there with him at the lecture theater he built as part of his business complex in Los Angeles, the roughly 80 students enrolled in will.i.am's class are each trying to build their own AI agent – a software system that can perform tasks autonomously, without requiring a human prompt.

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As someone who has long projected a tech-forward image – it was will.i.am who came up…