This spring, an AI-produced song called Heart on My Sleeve, which claimed to use the voices of Drake and the Weeknd, became popular on social media before it was flagged by Universal Music Group. Similarly created tracks, including one using AI versions of Rihanna to cover a Beyoncé song and another using AI vocals from Kanye West to cover the song Hey There Delilah, continue to rack up plays on social media.

Other artists are embracing the technology. Grimes, a producer and pop singer, put out a call in April for anyone to make an AI-generated song using her voice. The results were mixed.

Proponents of the technology say it has the power to disrupt the music business in the ways that synthesizers, sampling and file-sharing services did.

McCartney’s use of AI technology may recruit new fans, but it may also alienate older fans and Beatles purists, Tessler said.

“We have absolutely no way of knowing, creatively, if John were alive, what he’d want to do with these or what he’d want his contribution to be,” she said, adding that it creates an ethical gray area.

Loading

Over McCartney’s career, he has been quick to engage with new creative technologies, whether talking about synthesizers or samplers, she said.

“I think he’s just curious to see what it can do,” Tessler said of McCartney. “I mean, it gives us some insight into his mind and what his creative priorities are, that given how much of the music industry is at his fingertips, that what he chooses to do is finish a demo with John Lennon. In a way, it’s very poignant.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.