At the end of an interview with the BBC released on Tuesday, Paul McCartney dropped a bombshell about a new – and “final” – Beatles song that had been brought to life with the help of artificial intelligence. The unnamed track, to be released some time this year, is believed to have originated from a rough demo of a 1978 John Lennon composition called Now and Then.
“We were able to take John’s voice and get it pure through AI,” the 82-year-old pop icon explained. McCartney also elaborated on the use of AI in music making in general, saying there is a “good side” to it and a “scary side,” and that “we’ll just have to see where that leads.”
Reacting to McCartney’s comments, excitable news sources seized on the scary side of AI possibilities by suggesting something ghoulish was at work. The American breakfast television program CBS Mornings, for example,…
