Former Beatle Ringo Starr recently confirmed that the highly anticipated new Beatles track his former bandmate Paul McCartney announced last month would not include AI-generated fake vocals from late bandmates John Lennon or George Harrison, CNN reported.
In an interview with BBC Radio last month, McCartney revealed that a “new” Beatles track is in the works that will use artificial intelligence.
According to McCartney, they were able to isolate Lennon’s voice from a demo track for the Peter Jackson docu-series “The Beatles: Get Back,” then using artificial intelligence, were able to “take John’s voice and get it pure.” The recording was then mixed “as you would normally do,” McCarthy explained.
Unsurprisingly, McCarthy’s revelation sparked concern over how artificial intelligence might be used to bring to life the voices of singers who are long dead.
After the blowback, McCarthy tried clearing up how AI was being used on the final Beatles track.
McCarthy assured fans in a post on Instagram that there were no “artificially or synthetically created” voices on the track. Instead, the track will include existing recordings that were “cleaned up.” He explained that the clean-up process “has gone on for years.”
McCarthy assured fans that the track is “all real and we all play on it.”
In a podcast with Rolling Stone, Ringo Starr confirmed McCarthy’s explanation, saying that artificial intelligence was only used to clean up Lennon’s vocals and not to “fake” them. Starr also said the late George Harrison’s voice will also be featured in the new release.
Calling the recording “beautiful,” Starr said the song was “the final track you’ll ever hear with the four lads.”
Starr, who turned 83 on July 7, just wrapped up a tour with his All-Starr Band. He told Rolling Stone that he is still feeling great, and while “you never know when you’re going to drop,” he isn’t “dropping yet.”
