Is AI enhancing the legacy of the Beatles or deforming it?

Shoddy AI touch-ups of classics have left music fans duly incensed

- DAVE LEE is Bloomberg Opinion’s US technology columnist.

Fans who sat down to enjoy the newly re-released Beatles Anthology documentary this Thanksgiving noticed something was a little off.

John Lennon's guitar, in one performance, seemed to have about 10 strings. Behind him, Ringo Starr's bass drum had a wonky T’ in the logo. And Paul McCartney's face, well, often it wasn't. “He lookin like a shrunken head,” one fan remarked on Reddit.

Their complaints are about the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to restore and enhance old footage of the Fab Four as they travelled and drew screaming hoards worldwide. The series, which was first broadcast 30 years ago, is now streaming on Disney+, with a new ninth episode and previously unreleased studio outtakes.

I have watched some of the footage in question and I have to say the AI effect didn’t jump out at me—but then, I’m no Beatles megafan. Had I been, I might also be describing them as looking “like wax statues from the creepy Museum of Dead Rockers.” Heated discussion on the techniques has spread to X and Bluesky, where one viewer called the smoothing of the musicians’ faces “ghoulish.

The relationship between the Beatles and AI is a delicate one, and, in some respects, reflects the complex ethical tussle over Al's presence in creative work.