Will.i.am Raises $117 Million for High Tech Startup

Will.i.am’s tech startup, I.am+. has raised $117 million for research and development of artificial intelligence. In particular, his company is focusing on a voice assistant for powering customer service bots (from the word “robots”) called Omega. The bot is said to be similar to Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri. Up until now, I.am focused on consumer-oriented products such as wireless headphones. The venture funding actual took place earlier this year, but Will.i.am didn’t announce it until recently at the Dreamforce conference in San Francisco, where he also introduced Omega. The rapper with  the Black Eyed Peas told Reuters that the corporate community was ready for a new artificial intelligence-powered voice assistant. “I wanted to create something that allows us to do many things,” he said. “There’s so much you can do with a voice platform.” According towww.iamplus.com, (Omega’s website) Omega is a “voice-first A.I. platform that delivers natural and engaging user experiences for organizations of any size.” It promises to make “voice, text and rich customer experiences accessible whenever and wherever your customers are and via the best interaction model for each customer’s needs.”