AI “is kind of scary, but exciting because it is the future”

Paul McCartney announced on the BBC radio show “Best of Today” that he relied on artificial intelligence to produce the “last Beatles record.” The piece, which is due to be released later this year, includes vocals by McCartney and John Lennon, who died in 1980.

“It was a demo of John’s that we were working on and we’ve just finished it, it’s coming out this year,” McCartney said. “We were able to take John’s voice and get it through this AI so we could then mix the record as normal. It gives you some leeway, so there’s a good side and then there’s a scary side and we’ll just have to see where that goes.”

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McCartney called AI “a very interesting thing,” adding, “It’s something we’re all dealing with and trying to deal with at the moment. What does it mean? I don’t hear about it that much because I’m not on the internet that much, but people say to me, ‘Oh, there’s a track where John is singing one of my songs.’ And that’s not true. It’s just AI. This is all kind of scary, but exciting because it’s the future.”

Artificial intelligence has become one of the most controversial topics in the music industry recently, as the technology has been used to create and sell songs featuring artists who have not consented to such a release. An AI-generated fake collaboration between Drake and The Weeknd titled “Heart on My Sleeve” went viral in April, but set off alarm bells in the industry. The song garnered so many listens and views that it seemed on track to become a charting song until it was removed from Tidal, Apple, Spotify and other streaming platforms.

Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music company, issued a statement in April calling on major streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music to prevent AI companies from using their music to “train” their technology.

“We have a moral and commercial responsibility to our artists to prevent unauthorized use of their music and to deter platforms from hosting content that violates the rights of artists and other creators,” the company said in a statement. “We expect our platform partners to want to prevent their services from being used in ways that harm artists.”

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