AI-powered final Beatles song due this year, says Paul McCartney

The Beatles are set to release their final song, which was created using artificial intelligence (AI), later this year, according to Paul McCartney.

The legendary musician revealed in an interview with BBC Radio 4 that he had collaborated with an AI company to produce a new track based on an unfinished recording featuring his bandmates. He said the song, which has not been named yet, will be released as a single before the end of 2023.

It is believed that the track will be based on a demo, recorded by John Lennon in 1978, called Now and Then. It was included on a cassette labelled 'For Paul' that was later given by Yoko Ono to McCartney after Lennon's death in 1980.

The demo recording itself was rough and grainy, given it was recorded on a cassette player, and the quality was too poor to be used at the time of The Beatles Anthology collection, released on 1995, that featured two new tracks 'Free as a Bird' and 'Real Love'.

As part of the production of the Peter Jackson helmed documentary series "Get Back", for Disney Plus, AI technology was created to identify and isolate the performances of each of Beatle and allow them a new mix to be created. This was also used to facilitate an impossible duet by Paul McCartney with his former bandmate on his recent tour, including his headline set at Glastonbury 2022.

However, not everyone is enthusiastic about the use of AI in music. Some critics argue that AI could threaten the creativity and originality of human musicians, or even replace them altogether. Others question the ethical and legal implications of AI-generated music, such as who owns the rights and royalties of such songs.

McCartney said he was aware of these concerns, but he believed that AI was just another tool for musical expression. He said he did not think that AI could ever replace human creativity or emotion. He added that he hoped that the final Beatles song would be a tribute to his late friends and bandmates John Lennon and George Harrison, who died in 1980 and 2001 respectively.

"I think they would have loved it," he said. "I think they would have been proud of what we did together."