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    New Beatles song made with help from AI won't have anything artificial or synthetic, says Paul McCartney

    Synopsis

    Paul McCartney announced that the Beatles will reunite using artificial intelligence (AI) to extract John Lennon's voice from an old demo for a final song. However, he clarified on social media that nothing was "artificially or synthetically created" in the forthcoming song.

    Here comes the AI: Fans rejoice in 'new' Beatles musicAFP
    (FILES) Fans surround Beatles Paul McCartney (C) and George Harrison (2R) upon their arrival at Orly airport on June 20, 1965, before their concert at the Palais des Sports the same evening. (Photo by AFP)
    When the Beatles broke up in acrimony in 1970 more than 50 years ago, fans were devastated that they won't get to hear their favourite band play. Ten years later, lead singer John Lennon was assassinated by Beatles fan Mark David Chapman.

    Earlier this month, singer-songwriter Paul McCartney announced that the Beatles will reunite one last time for a final song with help from artificial intelligence (AI).

    The 80-year-old told the BBC that AI is helping the band extract Lennon's voice from an old demo to create "the last Beatles record," which is set to be released later this year.

    While the advancement in technology has left many fans impressed, the use of AI has also raised a host of ethical and legal questions.

    On Friday evening, McCartney took to social media to clarify the use of AI in the new song after it caused quite a buzz on social media.

    In his post, he claimed that there will be nothing "artificially or synthetically created" in the upcoming song.


    He wrote, "Been great to see such an exciting response to our forthcoming Beatles project. No one is more excited than us to be sharing something with you later in the year. We've seen some confusion and speculation about it. Seems to be a lot of guesswork out there. Can't say too much at this stage but to be clear, nothing has been artificially or synthetically created. It's all real and we all play on it. We cleaned up some existing recordings - a process which has gone on for years. We hope you love it as much as we do. More news in due course."

    McCartney's initial announcement last week detailed how the new song even came to be and what inspired them to finish it.

    Director Peter Jackson's 2021 Beatles documentary 'Get Back' encouraged the band members to complete the song because McCartney explained the director "was able to extricate John's voice from a ropey little bit of cassette."

    McCartney didn't identify the name of the demo, but the BBC and others believe it is an unfinished 1978 love song by Lennon called 'Now and Then'. The demo was included on a cassette labelled 'For Paul' that McCartney had received from Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, the BBC reported.

    It had been considered for release as part of the band's 'Anthology' project, which included a documentary, a three-volume set of double albums, and a book on the history of the group. Iconic Beatles producer George Martin refused to produce the former track so they recruited ELO's Jeff Lynne, who had already co-produced the latter tune.

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    Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online.

    ...more
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