How artificial intelligence will affect our lives going forward is a question being figured out across pretty much all industries right now. 

While many in the arts have expressed concerns over how algorithms learn from their work, Black Eyes Peas star will.i.am believes it actually should “inspire you to create”.

An early artificial intelligence supporter, he says: “If you’re basing what you’re going to do tomorrow off yesterday, you’re not growing.”

The music producer spoke to Sky News after giving a demo of his new AI radio app in London.

Rather than artificial intelligence being something with negative connotations, he insists its potential should “inspire better, broader, deeper, faster…[it] shouldn’t stop you from being human”.

As one of the most prominent voices to position himself in the pro-AI camp, his enthusiasm is certainly infectious.

Those who turned out to see the demonstration of his app-based platform RAiDiO.FYI got to see the musician and tech entrepreneur challenge one of his AI personas to make a joke comparing computer chips and guacamole chips with reasonably funny results.

He hopes listeners will come to interact and talk with AI presenters in the not-too-distant future.

But is it a gimmick or a taste of the future?

Sky News put it to will that some of his musical counterparts worry AI – with its instant ability for anyone to make a song in his style – waters down the music industry.

“I don’t think anything can water down our industry any more than TikTok has,” he responded.

“We used to listen to three-minute songs, now we’re down to nine seconds….TikTok and that algorithm, you know, changes what record companies are looking for, changes the architecture of the song… it’s watered down…we an ocean (sic).”

Sean Paul on embracing AI

But Jamaican dancehall musician Sean Paul isn’t entirely won over by AI’s potential.

“It’s a pandora’s box,” the rapper said, speaking to Sky News, “when you open it, it’s going to change all the parameters. It’s down to you to get used to the game.”

“I am apprehensive about certain parts of [it] in terms of making people lazy to writing”, the 52-year-old, who has worked with countless stars over his 20-year career, said.

“It can become a toy and make music more dispensable.”

He said he recognises there are copyright and ethical considerations with using AI in the music-making process – especially where algorithms are concerned and they may mimic popular sounds.

He said: “If it does happen that AI takes my stuff and I’m never compensated because of it (…) I will fight that.

“It’s gonna happen. Already though, I feel me, the artist, the creator, I’ve got the short end of the stick for a long time. Even before the days of streaming – we get 0.0 something of the product – and it’s we that created it.”

AI as a ‘tool’

However, he also acknowledged that “times have changed” – and that adapting is key to surviving the ever-changing music industry.

Paul says none of his published music has been touched by AI – but he is open to experimenting with it.

“I’ve used it for trying to finish riddim patterns that I have….I used it as a tool… as I think everybody should.”

Some big names in music, like Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Elton John, have openly called for a legal framework to be established to better protect artists, which will.i.am agrees is paramount “to not always lead with greed, especially with powerful systems” like AI.

“There needs to be some type of artificial intelligence constitution….I believe you should be licensed to put out AIs right now and you’re not.”

AI and copyright concerns

Over 1,000 artists, from Damon Albarn to Kate Bush, recently released a silent album to protest possible changes to UK copyright AI laws.

Dubbed ‘Is This What We Want?’, its aim was to highlight concern for how their work is potentially being used to develop and train the technology.

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While the likes of will.i.am and Sean Paul may be open to seeing where the technology takes them, Alastair Webber believes the government should be taking control rather than loosening the reins.

The co-founder of The Other Songs, an independent music company championing songwriters and artists, says: “We must protect copyright because it really is the economic bedrock of the creative industries that bring so much back.”

The son of composer Lord Lloyd Webber, he believes while it’s important that big figures within the industry like his father are vocal with their concerns, the stand they’re taking is actually for those with their careers ahead of them.

“We’re not talking about these big names like Andrew Lloyd Webber or Elton John, all these people that are getting the headlines supporting this, actually [this matters more] for the young people being born today.”

An actress who was said to have been groped by Noel Clarke has defended the actor in his libel case against the Guardian, the High Court has heard.

Clarke is suing Guardian News and Media (GNM) over seven articles and a podcast, including an article in April 2021 that said 20 women who knew him professionally had come forward with allegations of misconduct.

Clarke denies the allegations, while GNM is defending its reporting as being both true and in the public interest.

At a hearing on Friday, actress Louise Dylan said she heard through a friend that Clarke’s former business partner Davie Fairbanks had claimed he saw her being groped by Clarke at the wrap party for The Knot.

After learning of the current libel case she wrote an email to Clarke, who she described as a friend, in which she said the allegation was untrue, she said.

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She told the High Court in London: “Someone told the Guardian that he had assaulted me and I wrote this email because it was not true.

“A friend called me and I said this did not happen. I told Noel that he has my support because it is a lie.”

Read more: Why is Noel Clarke suing the Guardian?

She also said she never spoke to journalists from the Guardian.

The Guardian did not report the allegations about Ms Dylan.

She said: “They are reporters who are supposed to research an article before publishing something.

“I was told I had spoken to these journalists to corroborate a story but I had not.”

She said she had been at the wrap party with her friend and her boyfriend, following a group dinner beforehand.

She said she didn’t “remember [the wrap party] too well,” adding, “I don’t remember the specifics of the party other than we had a nice time”.

Philip Williams, representing Clarke, previously told the court in written submissions that the actor “has clearly established the falsity of all of the allegations”.

The barrister continued that his client was “barely able to reply to the allegations” published by the Guardian and was “perceived as a criminal by all those who previously trusted and worked with him”.

Gavin Millar KC, for GNM, said in his written submissions that the paper “did not simply accept what was said to it” and that “much time and resource was devoted to getting to the truth”.

He also said that there is “ample evidence” that all of the articles were true or substantially true.

Clarke, who is best known for his roles in Doctor Who and the Kidulthood movie trilogy, had his BAFTA membership and outstanding British contribution to cinema award suspended in 2021, following the allegations.

He later dropped a legal action he had brought against the charity.

The hearing before Mrs Justice Steyn is due to conclude next month, with a decision expected in writing at a later date.

:: This article has been updated to make clear that The Guardian did not report the allegations about Ms Dylan.

Stephen Graham says the rise of “misogynistic tendencies” is concerning and we’re “all accountable to an extent” to finding a solution.

His new limited series Adolescence looks at the impact of social media on children and the accessibility to radicalised views online.

Speaking to Sky News, Graham says there was a certain moment for him that inspired him to create the show.

“I read an article about a young girl who was stabbed to death by a young boy, and then a few months later, on the news there was a young girl who, again, had been brutally stabbed to death by a young boy in a completely different part of the country.

“If I’m really honest with you, that hurt my heart and I just thought, why? Why does this kind of thing happen? What is this society? Why have we reached this point where this kind of thing is happening? What was the reason?”

The four-part drama, he says, doesn’t have the answer but instead holds a mirror up to society asking how can the growing presence of incel culture be quashed?

“You look at it and you see that we’re kind of all accountable to an extent. There’s failings within the school system, there’s situations where the education system can look at this, look at what’s happened with that kind of rise in these misogynistic tendencies.

“The society as a whole can look at this, parents obviously can look at this, and the government in many ways.”

What is the term incel?

Derived from the phrase “involuntarily celibate”, incel culture in its simplest form someone who deems themselves unable to find a romantic partner despite desiring one.

A more radicalised sub-culture of incels has surfaced online in recent years which includes individuals who dislike feminism and believe that women have become too sexually selective.

They believe men are the superior sex and men have the right to objectify and criticise women as a result.

Influencers like Andrew Tate have been connected to the growing corner of the internet in which young boys are being radicalised from the certain viewpoint.

Actor Ashley Walters, who stars alongside Graham in the series, says reading into the existence of the misogynistic group came as a bit of a shock and it worries him about the world children are growing up in.

“I’d seen bits of the Andrew Tate stuff kind of popping up online or whatever, but I never really delved into it. And for me, this was the first real experience.

He adds: “I do sometimes feel sorry for [kids]. When I was growing up, I was in a bubble. I didn’t have a clue what was going on in the States and other parts of the world.

“It was just kind of in my little area that I grew up in with my family… I wasn’t seeing Bentleys and designer clothes and all of this stuff. It’s like I was happy with what I had. And now you’re exposed to everything. It’s no wonder that kids mentally grow up quicker.”

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The Top Boy actor believes it can be hard for young boys to talk about their emotions.

“It’s really important that we have these conversations and we make it normal to have discussions just like women and young girls do about feelings and whatever they’re going through.

“That was one of the big reasons why I wanted to be a part of this conversation that we’re creating, because I’m a strong advocate for, as a man, being vulnerable, crying in front of my friends, and just saying how I feel.

“It’s even difficult for me at times, so I can’t imagine how young men are at the moment… everything that’s going on around social media in their lives, how difficult it is for them to start this conversation.”

‘This government needs to do something’

Co-creator and writer Jack Thorne agrees and says the government should step in and guide children and their parents to the correct use of social media.

“I think this government needs to do something. And there’s a private members’ bill going through the Commons on Friday that has been watered down quite extensively by this government because they’re frightened of big tech.

“And we need to be having conversations like Australia’s having conversations, whether they’re actually putting in legislation about restricting social media access.

“We need to be having those conversations in this country and we’re not. And if we don’t have these conversations, it is going to get worse.”

He adds: “Doing this show I spent a lot of time in a lot of dark places. I saw where the web went and where the web goes. And it’s not about Andrew Tate. Andrew Tate is the shorthand for adults.

“There’s much worse stuff out there. And it teaches kids a logic… that makes sense of the world for them in a really distorted and ugly way. And unless we look at that and talk about that, things are only going to get worse.”

A government spokesperson said: “We are committed to keeping young people safe online.

“Starting next week, Ofcom can begin enforcing the Online Safety Act’s illegal content duties, targeting the most harmful material.

“By summer, children will be protected from harmful content, and platforms must take steps to ensure age-appropriate experiences online.

“These protections will act as the foundation and our priority is implementing them quickly and effectively.

“We also know there will be more to do and have already acted, including commissioning a study to assess current research on the impact of social media and smartphones, strengthening the evidence base on their impact on children’s wellbeing.

“This will enable us to swiftly consider all options to inform our next steps in the safety of children online.”

Adolescence is streaming on Netflix now.