Paul McCartney used 'scary' AI to make new Beatles song with John Lennon's voice

Sir Paul McCartney has taken a magical mystery tour through the world of artificial intelligence to prepare for the release of one final Beatles song in 2023.

The 80-year-old pop superstar told BBC's Best of Today radio show that he enlisted the help of AI technology to prepare an upcoming Beatles recording using all the iconic British group's members, including himself, Ringo Starr, and deceased bandmates George Harrison and John Lennon, who died in 2001 and 1980, respectively.

"It's a very interesting thing, it's something we're all sort of tackling at the moment and trying to deal with," McCartney said when asked about technological advancements furthering the Beatles' legacy roughly 60 years after the group rose to global prominence. Specifically, the songwriter discussed Peter Jackson using AI to isolate Lennon's vocals for a recording in his 2021 documentary series Get Back. "All of that is kind of scary, but exciting because it's the future."

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty The Beatles

McCartney then elaborated on making "what will be the last Beatles record," set for release in the near future.

"It was a demo that John had that we worked on, and we just finished it up, it'll be released this year. We were able to take John's voice and get it pure through this AI, so then we could mix the record as you would normally do," he teased. "It gives you some sort of leeway, so there's a good side to it, and then a scary side, and we'll just have to see where that leads."

Outside of his work with the Beatles, McCartney has continued to work on both solo and collaborative material, including his 2020 album McCartney III as well as "FourFiveSeconds," a 2015 top-10 hit he recorded with Rihanna and Kanye West.

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