The Beatles Return: Paul McCartney Using AI To Revive John Lennon's Voice

Paul McCartney and John Lennon will be reuniting on an upcoming track. Or at least, some version of Lennon.

The former Beatles bassist and Wings founder tells the BBC that artificial intelligence was able to "extract" and enhance old Lennon vocals to audio levels strong enough that they can now be mixed like it's the '60s all over again!

“So when we came to make what would 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," McCartney explained. “We were able to take John’s voice and get it pure through this AI, so that then we could mix the record as you would normally do. It gives you some sort of leeway," he continued.

The track is expected to be 1978's "Now And Then," which McCartney has previously noted he desired to finish. Lennon was murdered in 1980 and the duo never completed it.

John Lennon's voice is going to be rebirthed using artificial intelligence and AI for an upcoming song. (Photo by Rowland Scherman/Getty Images)

AI CONTROVERSY

McCartney broke the AI song news after being asked about the emerging significance of the technology throughout the music world and beyond.

“It’s a very interesting thing, you know. It’s something we’re all sort of tackling at the moment and trying to deal with." he told BBC's Today. “There’s a good side to it and then a scary side, and we’ll just have to see where that leads."

McCartney took a much calmer stance than other musicians like Ice Cube, who have called AI "demonic," as well as the Record Academy and the RIAA, who have launched the Human Artistry Campaign in an attempt to stop platforms from promoting and using AI-generated songs.

Earlier this year, a song ended up on the Internet that sounded like an unreleased track from The Weeknd with Drake. It quickly went viral. Then, both artists to confirmed it wasn't actually them, but rather, someone used AI to replicate their voices without their knowledge. The person who created the song has never been identified.

It's not just McCartney and the music industry that finds themselves in these unsure AI times. One thing is for certain though, AI isn't going anywhere, and humans need to figure out guidelines for its use before things get out of control.