“It can steal you” – Ringo Starr speaks his mind about AI

Even though The Beatles used AI to perform “the last Beatles song” in 2023, Ringo Starr claims the band is still cautious about the technology. George Harrison’s guitar tracks from 1995 were added to John Lennon’s 1977 demo, which served as the foundation for “Now and Then.” The song was then finished by Paul McCartney and Starr recording new parts. The band was fully aware of machine learning’s potential because Peter Jackson created the AI algorithm in question for his 2021 documentary series “The Beatles: Get Back”.

We tried it in the ’90s when we got ‘Free As A Bird’ out, but we didn’t take much interest because it didn’t sound like John, and George got a bit fed up. He didn’t want to do a third [1995 single] and so we just put it to bed – but now they’ve got better equipment. They lifted John’s voice off a cassette, for God’s sake; off a cassette! And it was like John was suddenly in town. I put the drums on and sang on the chorus… He put the strings on and the lead guitar that gave the track its emotion. It worked out really great. Ringo Starr

Starr then discussed the issues surrounding artificial intelligence, such as the potential for computer-generated music based on the work of unpaid artists and the use of voice reproduction to market songs over which the vocalist has no control.

We’re all a bit afraid of it, because it can steal you. Anyone who knows how to use it can steal you. If they just play any five of my songs into the computer, AI gets all of it and knows my every vocal move. They can have me sing anything and it will sound like me, because it’s taken from my personality. But the good side is the way we used it on ‘Now And Then.’ God knows where it’s going to go. We’re all worrying about it; but nobody’s really stolen anything yet. Ringo Starr