--- title: "The Beatles Just Released Their Final Song That Resurrects John Lennon’s Voice With AI" description: "More than 50 years after their breakup, The Beatles have released their final song — and used AI to bring John Lennon's voice back to life." date: "2023-11-02" modified: "2023-11-02" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/beatles-final-song-ai" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai music" - "music" - "the beatles" - "the digest" --- # The Beatles Just Released Their Final Song That Resurrects John Lennon’s Voice With AI ![More than 50 years after their breakup, The Beatles have released their final song — and used AI to bring John Lennon's voice back to life.]() *John Lennon and Yoko Ono photographed on November 2, 1980 - the first time in five years that Lennon had been photographed professionally and the last comprehensive photo shoot of his life. (Photo by Jack Mitchell/Getty Images) \Image: Jack Mitchell/Getty Images\* ## Get Back More than 50 years after their breakup, The Beatles have released their final song — and used AI to bring John Lennon's voice back to life. In an [announcement published on their official website](), The Beatles — or their two remaining members — suggested that the band's final song "Now and Then" is a followup to Paul McCartney's admission earlier this year that Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, had provided him with demos from his former bandmate that included the new and final track. Over the summer, [McCartney teased in a *BBC* interview]() that the new AI-remastered track was gleaned from a tape labeled "For Paul" that Ono had given him in the 1990s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW55J2zE3N4 ## Kiboshed Recorded before Lennon's murder in 1980, the tape contained unreleased material that ended up on the first part of the Beatles' "[Anthology]()" series, including the tracks "Real Love" and "Free as a Bird." When it came to "Now and Then," however, the late George Harrison was not on board. "George didn't like it," McCartney told *Q Magazine* back in 1997, per the *BBC*. "The Beatles being a democracy, we didn't do it." More than 20 years later, the knighted Beatle [admitted to the *New Yorker* that Harrison had called the song "fucking rubbish]()." As the *BBC* points out, McCartney has repeatedly expressed over the years that he wanted to finish the track — which apparently had a persistent buzzing sound that may have been due to the wiring in Lennon's old Manhattan apartment complex, The Dakota — to his liking. With new AI tech that was able to extricate Lennon's voice from a "ropey little bit of cassette" and get it "pure," as McCartney told the *BBC*, it seems like he finally has. All the same, the Beatle said some AI applications give him pause. "People will say to me, 'Oh, yeah, there's a track where John's singing one of my songs,' and it's just AI, you know?" he told the British public broadcaster over the summer. "It's kind of scary but exciting, because it's the future. We'll just have to see where that leads." **More on AI music:** [*AI Lets Johnny Cash Cover Taylor Swift from Beyond the Grave*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()