'Last' Beatles record to be released this year thanks to AI -McCartney

LONDON, June 13 (Reuters) – A “last” Beatles song, featuring the voice of late member John Lennon, will be released this year thanks to the use of artificial intelligence, Paul McCartney has said.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4 that aired on Tuesday, McCartney did not name the track but said the technology was used on “a demo slot that John had, that we worked on”.

“So when we came to make what will be the last Beatles record… we were able to take John’s voice and get it pure through this AI (artificial intelligence), so that then we could mix the record as you would normally do,” the singer-songwriter, 80, said.

“We just finished it up, it will be released this year.”

The BBC said in an online article that the song was likely to be “Now and Then”, which Lennon recorded as a demo in 1978, two years before his death in 1980.

McCartney said director Peter Jackson had used the technology for the 2021 documentary series “The Beatles: Get Back”, which looks at the Fab Four making their 1970 album “Let It Be”.

“He was able to extricate John’s voice from a ropey little bit of cassette,” McCartney said.

“We had John’s voice and a piano, he could separate them with AI.”

The use of AI in music has sparked both excitement and fear of what the technology could bring.

Asked about it, McCartney said: “It’s a very interesting thing… it’s something we’re all sort of tackling at the moment and trying to deal with.”

“…There’s a good side to it and then a scary side, and we’ll just have to see where that leads.”

(Reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Sharon Singleton)