Paul McCartney Utilizes AI to Release Final Beatles Album

During an interview with the BBC on Tuesday, Paul McCartney revealed that an AI-assisted “last Beatles album” is set to be released later this year.

“It was a demo that John (Lennon) had that we were working on and we just finished it,” said McCartney, who turns 81 next week.

The Beatles – Lennon, McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr – broke up in 1970 and each pursued solo careers, but they never reunited.

Lennon was shot in New York in 1980 at the age of 40, and Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001 at the age of 58.

McCartney did not name the song recorded, but according to the BBC it is likely to be a 1978 Lennon composition called “Now And Then”.

The song – one of several on cassette that Lennon had recorded for McCartney a year before his death – was given to him by Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, in 1994.

Two of the songs, “Free As A Bird” and “Real Love”, were cleaned up by producer Jeff Lynne and released in 1995 and 1996, respectively.

An attempt was made to do the same with “Now And Then”, but the project was scrapped due to background noise in the demo.

McCartney, who has previously spoken of wanting to finish the song, said AI had given him another chance to do so.

– “Now and then” –

Working with Peter Jackson, the filmmaker behind the 2021 documentary series “The Beatles: Get Back,” artificial intelligence was used to separate Lennon’s voice from the piano.

“They say to the machine, ‘That’s a sound. This is a guitar. Lose the guitar,” he explained.

“So when we came to do the last Beatles record, it was a demo that John had (and) we were able to take John’s voice and clean it up with this AI.

“Then we can mix the record like you normally would. So it gives you some leeway.”

McCartney performed a two-hour set at last year’s Glastonbury festival in England, playing Beatles classics to an audience of 100,000.

The set included a virtual duet with Lennon on “I’ve Got a Feeling,” from the Beatles’ final album, “Let It Be.”

Last month, Sting warned that “defending our human capital against artificial intelligence” would be a major battle for musicians in the coming years.

The use of artificial intelligence in music is a topic of debate in the industry, with some decrying copyright infringement and others praising its validity.

McCartney said using the technology was “kind of scary, but exciting because it’s the future,” adding, “We’ll just have to see where it goes.”