Paul McCartney reveals AI was used to create the 'last Beatles record'

By Jill Lances & Angeline Jane Bernabe

Paul McCartney is saying there's a "good side" and "scary side" to artificial intelligence.

During an interview with BBC Radio 4's "Best of Today" podcast, the Beatles icon candidly shared his thoughts on artificial intelligence and how it's helped him as a musician.

"There's a good side to it and a scary side," he said.

"It's something we're all sort of tackling at the moment and trying to deal with -- 'What's it mean?'" McCartney added. "I don't hear that much because I'm not on the internet that much, but people will say to me, 'Oh there's a track where you know [John Lennon is] singing one of my songs.' And it isn't, it's just AI."

"So, all that is kinda scary, but exciting because it's the future," he said.

McCartney also said that AI was used to "extricate John's voice" from a cassette for the Peter Jackson film "Get Back."

Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP, FILE

Paul McCartney performs at Glastonbury Festival in Somerset, England, June 25, 2022.

"We were able to use that kind of thing when Peter Jackson did the film 'Get Back,' where it was us making the 'Let It Be' album," McCartney said. "He [Jackson] could separate them with AI. He could tell the machine: This is a voice, this is a guitar, lose the guitar. And he did that. So, it has great uses."

McCartney revealed that what he called "the last Beatles record" is on its way, adding that it was created with the help of AI.

"It was a demo that John had that we worked on," he said. "We just finished it up and it will be released this year. We were able to take John's voice and get it pure through this AI. So then we could mix the record as you would normally do."

McCartney was speaking with BBC Radio 4 to promote his new photography exhibition, Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm, at the National Portrait Gallery in London, as well as his photography book, "1964: Eyes of the Storm," which is out now.