The Beatles forgotten demo triumphs at Grammys through AI magic

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Published 4 Feb 2025

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Artificial intelligence (AI) transformed John Lennon’s forgotten demo into The Beatles’ eighth Grammy award on Sunday night.

The song “Now and Then” won Best Rock Performance at the 2025 Grammy Awards, marking the first Grammy-winning song to use AI in its production process.

    Filmmaker Peter Jackson’s machine learning technology separated Lennon’s voice from a lo-fi piano recording from the late 1970s. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr then completed the track in 2023, adding new instrumentation alongside guitar parts recorded by George Harrison in 1995.

    “To be clear, nothing has been artificially or synthetically created. It’s all real and we all play on it,” McCartney said when the song was released last year. “We cleaned up some existing recordings — a process which has gone on for years.”

    Sean Ono Lennon accepted the award on behalf of the band at a non-televised Grammys Premiere Ceremony event. “The Beatles have done such incredible work and they’re still in the culture and people still listen to the music. As far as I’m concerned, it’s the greatest band of all time,” he said during his acceptance speech.

    The song’s path to completion spans nearly half a century. Previous attempts to release “Now and Then” in the 1990s failed due to technical limitations. Jackson only later developed the AI technology while working on The Beatles documentary “Get Back.”

    Grammy rules permit AI to be involved only in specific elements of a song, not as the primary creator. “Now and Then competed against tracks by Green Day, Pearl Jam, The Black Keys, Idles, and St. Vincent.

    The track was also nominated for Record of the Year, a category The Beatles had never won before. Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” ultimately claimed that award.

    This Grammy victory demonstrates how technological advances can breathe new life into historical recordings while preserving their authenticity. The success of “Now and Then” might encourage other artists and estates to explore similar preservation techniques for unreleased material.