When The Beatles broke up over half a century ago, the legendary band left their fans in tears. But with artificial intelligence, their appetite is finally partially satisfied. By bringing together the four artists again, or by revisiting the latest works of Paul McCartney with his youthful voice, these creations highlight recent technological advances, while raising a host of ethical and legal questions.
“I’m in tears, it’s so beautiful!”wrote a listener on YouTube, below the video for the single New (2013) by Paul McCartney, fan-modified using artificial intelligence (AI). His voice is rejuvenated and the track features a part sung by his late partner John Lennon. Equally impressive is a version of Grow Old With Meone of the last songs written by John Lennon, released after his assassination and recreated by an AI enthusiast calling himself Dae Lims.
With enhanced audio quality and backing vocals that evoke the band’s heyday from Liverpool, the song’s most moving moment comes when Paul McCartney breaks into singing along to the melody. “When I hear that, I go crazy. I start to cry”said in a video the Youtubeur to the million subscribers Steve Onotera, alias SamuraiGuitarist.
After the group broke up, fans were deprived of a happy ending, he says. “So when you see them brought together artificially, but convincingly through artificial intelligence, it’s very emotional”.
New tool
The piece Heart on a Sleeve, bringing together artists Drake and The Weeknd, had meanwhile garnered millions of clicks on TikTok and other platforms. The technology used analyzes and captures the nuances of a voice. The creators probably sing the lyrics themselves, before applying a clone of the desired voice, like applying a filter to a photograph.
Getting there isn’t easy and requires AI-savvy humans with real knowledge of music software, according to Zohaib Ahmed, CEO of Resemble AI, a Toronto-based specialist company. “I think there is still only a very small part of the population that can access these tools”, he explains. It’s necessary “read on it, have the right computer and put it all together”.
His company is one that offers a platform that can be shared more widely with the entertainment industry — including a Netflix documentary supposedly narrated by the voice of the late Andy Warhol.
For Patricia Alessandrini, composer and teacher at Stanford, the growing number of songs generated by AI represents the coming of age of a technology that has grown exponentially, while remaining quite distant from the general public during the last decade. “It’s a good example of what AI does really well, which is anything to do with resemblance.she told AFP. But there’s really no risk of it replacing the rich history of art and culture created by humans.”
Lawsuit in sight
For the music industry, the implications are enormous. Technology allowing people to easily transform their voice into that of their favorite singer probably won’t be long in coming. If the artists “are paid to license their voice, so everyone is happybelieves Steve Onotera. But what about those who are long dead?”
The issue of copyright is central. In the case of Heart on a Sleeve, the Universal group had the piece removed from streaming platforms, without this preventing its reappearance online here and there. According to Marc Ostrow, a specialist lawyer, AI-generated music is a gray area.
Rights can be claimed by both artists and music labels. But content creators using AI can claim the legal concept of fair use (reasonable use), a sort of exception clause. The US Supreme Court ruled the opposite way last month when it ruled that a photographer, whose shot of musician Prince was used by painter Andy Warhol, should have been awarded copyright.
Ultimately, “I think the standards will be set by the industry deliberately […] or it will end up in court”, judged Marc Ostrow with AFP. The labels will indeed have to deal with the bad publicity caused by a lawsuit against the work of a fan, seen as a tribute and not a source of money.