The BeatlesAn English rock band formed in Liverpool in the 1960s. One of the most famous bands of all time. disbanded in 1969. Two of its members are dead. Yet the iconic Liverpool band are about to release a new song.

Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney revealed this week that he is using AIA computer programme that has been designed to think.  to finish a demo by his late bandmate John LennonAn English singer-songwriter and member of the world-renowned 1960s band The Beatles. He was assassinated in 1980 in New York. . McCartney will use the technology to copy Lennon's voice.

AI is on the rise in music. Earlier this year, an artist called Ghostwriter released a song sung by AI-generated clones of pop stars Drake and The Weeknd.¹ It racked up 230,000 plays on YouTube and 625,000 on Spotify.

Yet AI-generated music is everywhere. On YouTube you can find AI-generated tracks of Queen singer Freddie Mercury singing Michael Jackson songs, Kayne West covering Coldplay and Taylor Swift's current voice covering her old songs.

Musicians have reacted to AI with mixed emotions. As McCartney says: "It's kind of scary but exciting, because it's the future."

Many fear for their own careers. AI tools are already being used to make muzakLight background music which is played through speakers in public places., pushing composers out of work.² Musicians might be next. Why pay a guitarist for a recording when you can use cheap, easy to use AI?

It poses questions for the ownership of music. If someone makes a track using Paul McCartney's voice, is it owned by McCartney, the AI system or the person who made the track?

Some worry that AI might hurt creativity. Instead of thinking up bright new ideas, musicians might just use AI for an easy shortcut. The result might be a music scene that stays in the same place forever.

Yet not everyone agrees. Some musicians have already embraced AI. The electronic composer Holly Herndon, for instance, uses an AI version of her own voice - nicknamed Holly+ - to sing alongside her.

And AI tools can also help people outside the music industry breakthrough. Music critic Puja Patel says: "It opens up doors for people who are under-resourced."

Yes: We are living in the calm before the storm. AI music may seem fake now, but soon record labels will be able to bombard the market with cheap copies. We will be unable to tell real and AI apart.

No: Music has changed as new technology appears. Electronic instruments, synthesisers, samplers, GarageBand... the list goes on. AI is just the latest innovation that will push music forward.

Or... Music lives wherever there are people. The real threat is to the music industry, which seeks to control how music is produced. AI might create a freer, more open musical scene.