Intel Hires will.i.am as ‘Director of Creative Innovation’

In an interesting announcement coming out of left field, Intel names megastar recording artist will.i.am as the company’s “Director of Creative Innovation”. For the next couple of years, will.i.am is acting as an official Intel employee to help the company further its “compute continuum” vision – that is, to help create devices for the future.

If you’re wondering how an artist like will.i.am can help Intel in its quest for future domination, I’m right there with you. I respect will.i.am highly for his creativity and love for technology, but after watching Intel introduce him to a room complete with other Intel employees, I’m not sure where Intel stands to gain here. You can watch that video to form your own opinion.

I’ll give Intel one thing… it’s rather brilliant to bring on someone like will.i.am even if just as a front-man, because it seems like he’s in a position where he can do little wrong, and with the mass of fans of his, it might gain the company some new-found respect from those who love tech, but might not even know what’s inside the gadgets and PCs they use everyday.

Perhaps most interestingly, the press release states that will.i.am will be producing some exclusive music for Intel, so it’ll be interesting to see how that turns out and which way the company plans to use it.

ANAHEIM, Calif., Jan. 25, 2011 – He’s best known for being a multi-platinum music artist, producer and front man for The Black Eyed Peas, but will.i.am is also an innovator, technology fan, entrepreneur and philanthropist. With today’s announcement at the Anaheim Convention Center, the seven-time Grammy winner has added another title to his multi-faceted resume: “director of creative innovation.”