So, it’s no secret there’s lots of opinions about the use of artificial intelligence. Some are for it, while others not so much. As far as Paul McCartney is concerned, when it comes to AI being used to create “the last Beatles record,” he’s opted to just “Let It Be.”
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In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today, the legendary musician addressed how AI has been used to make his voice sound younger, as well as resurrect the voices of his late band members John Lennon and George Harrison who died in 1980 and 2001, respectively.
The technology was used to separate The Beatles' voices from background sounds during the making of director Peter Jackson's 2021 documentary series, The Beatles: Get Back.
Jackson was "able to extricate John's voice from a ropey little bit of cassette and a piano," Paul told BBC Radio. "He could separate them with AI, he'd tell the machine 'That’s a voice, this is a guitar, lose the guitar.’”
And with that they were able to create a “new” Beatles tune.
“When we came to make what will be the last Beatles record – it was a demo that John had that we worked on and we just finished it up, it will be released this year – and we were able to take John’s voice and get it pure through this AI,” McCartney said. “So then we were able to mix the record as you would normally do.”
While McCartney maintains that he remains off the internet for the most part, he admitted to being aware of AI being used to do things like have Lennon sing one of his songs, which he did note was “kind of scary.”
“It’s something we’re all sort of tackling at the moment and trying to deal with,” McCartney added. There’s “a good side and a scary side” to AI, so “we’ll just have to see where that leads.”
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