#Paul McCartney Clarifies Use of AI in Upcoming Beatles Song: “Nothing Has Been Artificially or Synthetically Created”

Paul McCartney is clarifying the use of artificial intelligence in The Beatles’ new song after it caused quite a buzz on social media.

Last week, the singer-songwriter revealed in a BBC radio interview that the British super group would be releasing a song this year and using AI to add the late John Lennon’s voice onto the track. But given that the technology is at the center of many ethical debates, some fans took to social media, questioning its use.

After seeing “some confusion and speculation,” McCartney decided to share his thoughts, writing on Twitter 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. We cleaned up some existing recordings – a process which has gone on for years.”

The singer also added in the post, “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 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.

“When we came to make what will be the last Beatles record, it was a demo that John had,” McCartney explained during the interview. “We were able to take John’s voice and get it pure through this AI. Then we can mix the record, as you would normally do.”

It was then the 2021 Beatles documentary Get Back, directed by Peter Jackson, that pushed them to actually complete the song because McCartney said that Jackson “was able to extricate John’s voice from a ropey little bit of cassette.”

“We had John’s voice and a piano and he could separate them with AI,” he added. “They tell the machine, ‘That’s the voice. This is a guitar. Lose the guitar.’”

The CEO and president of the Recording Academy, Harvey Mason Jr., also recently talked with The Hollywood Reporter about what part of an AI-produced song would qualify for a Grammy Award. When asked about The Beatles’ upcoming song specifically, he said, “I don’t know what exactly this song’s going to sound like, as you said, we haven’t heard it, but if they’re using an old John Lennon vocal or using voice modeling to replicate a John Lennon vocal, that would be a performance consideration.”

He continued, “And as long as there were other performances and other people involved in that performance more than “de minimis” amount, it would be eligible for a Grammy. If you’re talking about a composition, if the other members of The Beatles had written the song and it was submitted and there was more than “de minimis” amount of human creation, then yes, we would be willing to consider it for a Grammy.”

A release date for the group’s new song has not been set at this point.