How AI helped the Beatles win their eighth Grammy

Listen to 'Now and Then,' the Beatles' final song

The Beatles released their final song, "Now and Then," in October 2023, featuring a previously hidden John Lennon vocal. The track was initially shelved due to poor audio quality but was revived with the help of AI to enhance Lennon's performance....

How the Beatles became the most influential band on Earth

Beatles geek and comedian Conan O'Brien is a special guest with the Rest is History podcast in this exploration of the quartet from Liverpool's mammoth role in global pop culture. The two-part podcast was recorded in Abbey Road Studios, the world's first dedicated recording facility, where the band recorded 190 of its 210 songs.

One man used an AI band to conduct an elaborate social experiment

In 2025, a Canadian using the pseudonym Andrew Frelon claimed to have used generative AI to create songs, an album cover, and a profile photo for a fake band he called The Velvet Sundown. Frelon eventually revealed that he lied, and his experiment highlighted the uncertainty surrounding AI.

After taking a break for over a decade, Liza Minnelli released a new track using AI arrangements

In the 2026 song "Kids, Wait Til You Hear This," the singer proudly claims that the vocals are all her own, though AI generates the background music. The dance track shows Minnelli venturing into the deep house genre, straying from her traditional pop and show tunes background. The song is part of an ElevenLabs album featuring other AI-generated tunes, and shares a title with her 2026 memoir.

How Apple's GarageBand changed music

Apple's preinstalled, easy-to-use software GarageBand was first released in 2004. Since then, it's changed the way artists write and record music. The program's accessibility and ease of use have allowed beginner artists to experiment and find their voice, while major artists like Rihanna, Grimes, and Bjork have used the program to record hit singles and perform live. This article from the Red Bull Music Academy explains how the basic interface reshaped an industry.

How the Grammy Awards are made

The Grammy Awards aren’t just trophies—they’re handcrafted works of art. Since 1959, each Grammy has been meticulously made from a custom metal alloy called “grammium.” From its origins to the process behind every award, here’s a look at the craftsmanship behind music’s most prestigious honor.

The Beatles sued Apple in 1978 to defend naming rights to their record label

The band created their own record label, Apple Corps, after their manager died in 1967, while the technology company chose the name "Apple" to appear before the video game company Atari in directories. Subsequent lawsuits were not settled until 2007.

Radiohead's chatbot was born over 20 years before ChatGPT

Looking for a novel way to promote their 2001 record "Amnesiac," Radiohead began working with ActiveBuddy, the people responsible for the popular SmarterChild chatbot, to create GooglyMinotaur, their own AOL chatbot based on a character based on the album. This oral history offers a deep dive on this fascinating piece of music and tech trivia, demonstrating the band's reliably forward-thinking perspective and providing a window into an early iteration of commercial artificial intelligence.

Using AI to restore speech 30 years after a stroke

Through a novel surgical procedure involving electrodes implanted in the brain, along with the help of artificial intelligence, a stroke patient is regaining her ability to speak. This technology converts her thoughts into speech through a digital avatar, allowing her to verbally express herself for the first time in decades.

The Oscars now prohibit AI-generated acting and writing

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences added language to its rules and eligibility requirements stating that only roles "demonstrably performed by humans with their consent" and screenplays "human-authored" would be eligible for awards.

Billie Eilish broke records at the 2020 Grammys

Alternative pop star Billie Eilish had a fascinating rise to fame. She cemented her album "When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?" in Grammys history by becoming the first woman and youngest person to win all the Big Four awards in the same night.

Help scientists at LIGO train AI to resolve glitches in observational data

Volunteers are provided with visual representations of signal abnormalities at various frequencies and tasked with categorizing them based on reference examples. Progressing through the tool unlocks more difficult images and additional features. Categorized images will be used to train machine learning algorithms for automated future classification.

Hear 2 jazz pianists analyze 'Getz/Gilberto'

The 1964 bossa nova classic won the Grammy for album of the year, a rare feat for a jazz record. According to jazz pianists Peter Martin and Adam Maness, that also makes it one of the last truly popular jazz albums. In this episode of their podcast "You'll Hear It," they break down the musicality of the songs in real time, offering technical insights into every quirk and nuance.

IBM’s supercomputer Deep Blue beat Garry Kasparov in 1997

After defeating IBM’s Deep Blue in 1996, world champion Garry Kasparov lost their 1997 rematch 3½–2½. The match was a milestone in artificial intelligence, marking the first time a computer beat a reigning world champion.

The Juke 8 was the world's first karaoke machine

Daisuke Inoue invented the machine in 1971 by combining an amplifier, microphone, and 8-track machine, though he never patented it and, as a result, never collected royalties from the billion-dollar industry.

English mathematician Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer algorithm a century before computers existed and hypothesized that computing devices would one day be able to compose music—foreseeing the generative AI systems of today.

The surprising and strange sources behind 12 famous songs

Britney Spears's "Toxic" borrowed strings from a 1981 Bollywood film, Billie Eilish sampled The Office, and one duo made an entire album using only the sounds of their Whirlpool washing machine. Explore how sampling can pull from pretty much anywhere.

Why cows are loving their new robot caretakers

Autonomous robots are transforming dairy farming by letting cows choose when to be milked or cleaned. Dairy robot manufacturer Lely says this ability to decide reduces a cow's stress and increases milk production. The robot systems are costly, but are marketed as increasing efficiency for dairy farmers. And the cows appear to love them.

In 2004, Prince paid tribute to George Harrison with a surreal solo

The 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony paid tribute to the recently deceased Beatle with a rendition of one of his most famous songs by Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Steve Winwood, and George Harrison's son, Dhani. Several minutes into the performance, Prince suddenly appeared center stage for a virtuosic solo. He ended it by tossing his guitar into the crowd. Tom Petty's drummer would later say, "Everybody wonders where that guitar went, and I gotta tell you, I was on the stage, and I wonder where it went, too."

How Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees New Order forged a new sound

Formed in the ashes of post-punk outfit Joy Division, the British group incorporated synthesizers and pulsating, disco beats for "Blue Monday," their early single that would come to define the 1980s sonic landscape.

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles, 'Please Please Me' and 'From Me to You,' with one executive calling the band 'dead in the water.'

YouTube plans on embracing AI-powered features

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan lays out a series of priorities and predictions for how the online video giant will continue to evolve. Mohan says the company wants AI to play a bigger role—in addition to figuring out how YouTube can evolve and improve the experience of streaming its content.

Broadway hit 'Stereophonic' was inspired by Fleetwood Mac

The show follows a 1970s rock band while they're in the studio, tracking a new album, and mirrors many of the internal conflicts that led to Fleetwood Mac's 1977 record, "Rumours." The play was a massive hit, earning 13 Tony nominations (the most ever for a play). It won five, including best play.

The BAFTAs won by David Attenborough, the only person to win across five visual display formats

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts awarded the naturalist for programming in black and white, color, high definition, 3D, and 4K resolution, starting with his first BAFTA in 1961. The VR film "David Attenborough's Great Barrier Reef" also won a BAFTA for London-based Alchemy VR in the Digital Creativity category.

NASA designed the Golden Record using hydrogen to ensure it's universally readable

The Golden Record holds what is essentially a human "time capsule," featuring music, nature sounds, and greetings from around the world. NASA used the radiation period of hydrogen's simplest transition as a baseline to convey timing and structure. The first coded image is included on the cover as a test so aliens can check if they decoded it correctly.

BTS was the 2020 Time Entertainer of the Year

The COVID-19 pandemic brought a lot of good fortune to BTS, who were able to reach audiences worldwide with their talent, appearance, and messaging. This Time profile of the group reflects on the epoch-defining group and how they stood out from other musical acts by being more socially progressive and uplifting. Their success is recognized as a triumph for Asian representation and the boundless popularity of K-pop idols.

English mathematician Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer algorithm a century before computers existed and hypothesized that computing devices would one day be able to compose music—foreseeing the generative AI systems of today.

One disco producer saw 'Star Wars' four times on its opening weekend and was so inspired that he recorded the album 'Star Wars and Other Intergalactic Funk,' which produced a chart-topping single.

A vending machine run with Anthropic's AI went out of business after it was convinced to give away items for free and sell a video game console.

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

This site reaches millions of visitors who are tired of AI chatbots and seeking human connection. Pretend to be an AI chatbot and ask questions, provide answers, and draw for people in real time.

Astronauts have repaired genetic damage in space using CRISPR—a molecular tool that can make precise changes to DNA and is used in single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses.

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

Fish populations in the Great Barrier Reef have increased after installing waterproof speakers on the ocean floor that played recordings of sounds from healthy coral reefs.

Against his wishes, Albert Einstein's brain was removed before his cremation, and the pathologist responsible stored it for decades in mason jars within a beer cooler.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.

Electrical grids worldwide must double their power delivery capacity by 2050 to meet surging demand from AI and electric vehicles.

Recent research found that the brain doesn't seem to massively rewire following amputation—upending earlier beliefs about the cause of phantom limb pain.

70 years ago today, city officials in Santa Cruz, California, banned rock 'n' roll to protect its youth from corruption after witnessing a 'provocative' concert the night before.

The Mona Lisa's celebrity status and repeated restorations have obscured what made the painting so revolutionary for its time

Crows are believed to have intelligence on par with a seven-year-old child and demonstrate complex behaviors, from problem-solving with tools to recognizing human faces.

The animatronic shark from Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws,' the first modern blockbuster, was a complex underwater apparatus called 'Bruce.'

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

In preparation for this weekend's Eurovision finale, which is something like the World Cup of pop music, here's a young Céline Dion performing (for Switzerland?) at the 1988 competition.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

The first image of a black hole was captured by creating an Earth-sized virtual observatory from a network of eight radio telescopes.

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

Learn how monoclonal antibodies, which mimic the body's antibodies, can fight diseases like Ebola.

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.