When the Beatles broke up more than 50 years ago, the legendary group left their fans hungry. But with artificial intelligence, your appetite is finally partially satisfied.
By “bringing together” the four artists again, or reviewing Paul McCartney’s latest work in his youthful voice, these creations highlight recent technological advances while raising a number of ethical and legal questions.
“I’m crying! It’s so beautiful!” wrote one listener on YouTube, below the video for Paul McCartney’s 2013 single “New”, modified by a fan using artificial intelligence (AI). His voice is rejuvenated and the song features a part sung by his late friend and classmate John Lennon.
Equally impressive: a cover of “Grow Old With Me,” one of the last songs written by John Lennon, released after his assassination and recreated by an AI enthusiast who called himself “Dae Lims.”
“It is very moving”
With enhanced audio quality and backing vocals reminiscent of the band’s Liverpool heyday, the song’s most emotional moment comes when Paul McCartney sings the tune.
After the group broke up, fans were deprived of a “happy ending,” he says. “So when you see them put together artificially, but convincingly, thanks to artificial intelligence, it’s very moving.” The song “Heart on a Sleeve,” which brings together artists Drake and The Weeknd, garnered millions of clicks on TikTok and other platforms.
The technology used analyzes and captures the nuances of a voice. The creators will likely sing the lyrics themselves, before applying a “clone” of the desired voice, such as applying a filter to a photograph.
Getting there isn’t easy and requires humans who know how to run AI, with real knowledge of music software, according to Zohaib Ahmed, CEO of Resemble AI, a Toronto company specializing in the field.
“No risk of replacing art”
His company is one of those offering a platform that can be shared more widely with the entertainment industry, including a Netflix documentary purportedly “annotated” by the voice of the late Andy Warhol.
For Patricia Alessandrini, a songwriter and Stanford professor, the growing number of AI-generated songs represents the coming-of-age of a technology that has grown exponentially, yet has remained far removed from the mainstream for the past decade.
For the music industry, the implications are huge. The technology that allows people to easily transform their voice into that of their favorite singer is probably not long in coming.
If artists “get paid to license their voice, then everyone is happy,” Steve Onotera estimates. “But what about those who are long dead?”
fair use
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 it from reappearing online here and there.
According to Marc Ostrow, a lawyer specializing in these issues, AI-generated music is a “grey area.” Rights can be claimed by both artists and record labels. But content creators using AI can claim the legal concept of “fair use” (“reasonable use”), a kind of exception clause.
The US Supreme Court ruled in the opposite direction last month, ruling that a photographer whose photo of musician Prince was used by painter Andy Warhol should have been copyrighted.
Ultimately, “I think the industry will deliberately set the standards… or it will end up in court,” Marc Ostrow told AFP.
Labels will have to deal with the bad publicity caused by a lawsuit against a fan’s work, seen as a tribute and not a source of money.
Source: BFM TV
