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 seminal LiverpoolA port city in northwest England, close to the border with Wales. band are gearing up 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 complete 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 replicate Lennon's distinctive voice.

AI is blazing a trail across the music industry. Earlier this year, an artist called Ghostwriter released a song sung by AI-generated clones of pop stars Drake and The Weeknd.¹ The track racked up 230,000 plays on YouTube and 625,000 on Spotify before Universal Music GroupA huge multinational music company. complained and had the song removed.

Yet AI-generated music continues to proliferate. 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's rise with mixed emotions. As McCartney says: "It's kind of scary but exciting, because it's the future." Many believe rock music thrives on the energy musicians make in a room together. AI threatens this. Singer Sting says: "I don't think we can allow the machines to just take over."

The first fear many have is for their own careers. AI tools are already being used to generate 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 cheaper, easy to use AI?

It also 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? Can an artist like Ghostwriter make money using scraps of others' voices?

Others worry that AI might stifle creativity. Instead of thinking up sparkling new ideas, musicians might just use AI for an easy shortcut. The result might be a music scene that never innovates or shifts.

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

Some salute the way AI breaks the boundary between star and fan. The Canadian artist Grimes has allowed fans to use her voice in AI-generated songs. She will even split the royaltiesA type of ordinary income generated from copyrights, patents, and oil and gas properties. For instance, a sum paid to the owner or artist of a piece of creative work every time it is played or performed. with them. She says: "I like the idea of open sourcing all art and killing copyright."

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, who aren't signed to a label, who don't have the financial backing to create something in the way that they want to."

Perhaps AI exposes a sad truth about the music we listen to. After the fake Drake track, trip hopAn experimental style of dance music. group Massive Attack tweeted: "Why is contemporary music so homogenised & formulaic that it's really easy to copy?" AI might inspire musicians to make things that are truly new and impossible to copy.

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 soundalikes. We will be unable to tell real and AI apart.

No: Music has dramatically 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 flourishes 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.