Sir Paul McCartney says he has used artificial intelligence to help create what he calls "the final Beatles record" - which will feature the voice of late member John Lennon.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4 that aired on Tuesday, McCartney did not give the name of the song but said the technology was used on "a demo that John had, that we worked on."

"So when we came to make what will be the last Beatles record... we were able to take John's voice and get it pure through this AI, so that then we could mix the record as you would normally do," the singer-songwriter, 80, said.

"We just finished it up, it will be released this year."

The BBC said in an article that the track was likely to be "Now and Then," which Lennon recorded as a demo in 1978, two years before his death in 1980.

McCartney said director Peter Jackson had used the technology for the 2021 documentary series "The Beatles: Get Back", which explores how one of the most influential bands of all time made their 1970 album "Let It Be."

"He was able to extricate John's voice from a ropey little bit of cassette," McCartney said.

"We had John's voice and a piano, he could separate them with AI."

The use of AI in music has sparked both excitement and fear of what the technology could bring.

In recent months, convincingly produced songs made with AI that appear to feature the voices of some of music's biggest stars have started to go viral on social media. 

Some streaming sites have gone so far as to remove certain tracks from their platforms in a bid to "weed out illegal and fraudulent content."

Asked about the rapid growth of AI in the music industry, McCartney said: "It's a very interesting thing... it's something we're all sort of tackling at the moment and trying to deal with."

He added: "There's a good side to it and then a scary side, and we'll just have to see where that leads."

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