Paul McCartney has created a 'final' Beatles song using AI

In an interview with BBC Radio 4, this morning, McCartney explained the process of using AI to separate Lennon's vocals from the demo. ”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. He was able to extricate John’s voice from a rumpy little bit of cassette that had John’s voice and a piano".

He continued: “He could separate them with AI, and he could tell the machine, “That’s a voice. This is a guitar. Lose the guitar.” And he did that, so it has great uses. So when we came to make what will be the last Beatles record, it was a demo that John had, and 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. So it gives you some sort of leeway.”

Paul McCartney didn’t say which song would become this final Beatles record, but the BBC have speculated that it’s “Now And Then" – a demo that Lennon recorded in 1978.

In 1995 and 1996, when the surviving Beatles were putting together their Anthology collection, they added their own voices and instrumentation to Lennon’s demos of “Free As A Bird” and “Real Love", which now can be counted as the last Beatles records. “Now And Then” was reportedly considered for that release, but the quality wasn't good enough due to a reported electrical buzz which made sampling that recording impractical – until now.