Last month, Paul McCartney announced the imminent arrival of a brand new Beatles song created using artificial intelligence from an unpublished model by John Lennon. And according to Ringo Starr, the result is simply “sublime”. However, as the former Fab Four clarified, the beauty of the track owes nothing to the AI.
“It’s not due to the AI. It’s not like we’re pretending. It’s really John’s voice, as well as Paul’s plus his bass, while we hear George [Harrison] on rhythm guitar and me on drums,” the 83-year-old artist told variety on the sidelines of his Peace-Loving Birthday Celebration, an event he organizes every year for his birthday.
Much ado about not much
“You know, if we forget all the hay we made around it, it’s still a beautiful piece. And this is our last piece,” concluded Ringo Starr, emphasizing that, by last, he meant ultimate.
If the announcement of the involvement of AI in the design of this mysterious title has caused some syncope among purists, there is however nothing to shout. Indeed, the technology was only used for one thing: to extract the voice of John Lennon present on this old demo and to clean it so that it is exploitable.