Paul McCartney using AI to recreate John Lennon's voice for a Beatles song

(Image: Wikimedia)

Influential British rock band, The Beatles, are getting back together for one final song with the help of AI.

Singer-songwriter Paul McCartney told BBC Radio 4 that the band had used AI to extract a version of John Lennon's voice for one "final" song.

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"We were able to take John's voice and get it pure through this AI," said McCartney.

The composition is based on a demo Lennon recorded before his death in 1980. According to BBC News, the demo was on a cassette tape labelled "For Paul" given to McCartney by Yoko Ono. McCartney told BBC Radio 4 that they had "finished it up" and it will release "this year".

The idea to use AI to recreate Lennon's voice came from Peter Jackson's The Beatles: Get Back, a documentary series that covers the making of the influential album, Let it Be.

The process was also used for surround-sound mixes of the Beatles' Revolver album.

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According to McCartney, 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. They tell the machine: ‘That’s the voice. This is a guitar. Lose the guitar’.

McCartney said they were able to use the technology "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.”