Paul McCartney clarifies use of artificial intelligence for ‘final’ Beatles song

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

(CNN) — Paul McCartney is offering more information on how artificial intelligence is being used for what he said will be a “final” Beatles song.

“We’ve seen some confusion and speculation about it,” read a note posted in a story on his verified Instagram account Thursday. “Seems to be a lot of guess work 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,” he added. “We cleaned up some existing recordings – a process which has gone on for years.”

In a recent interview with BBC Radio 4’s “Today” program the legendary musician and former Beatle was asked about AI and how it’s been used to make his voice sound younger – and to resurrect the voices of fellow band members John Lennon and George Harrison who died in 1980 and 2001, respectively.

McCartney said the technology was being used to release a “new” track.

“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.”

That sparked concern from some about how AI might be used in terms of artists who are no longer with us.

McCartney acknowledged that excitement surrounding the forthcoming singles in his note, writing, “No one is more excited than us to be sharing something with you later in the year.”

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