A Grammy went to the Beatles in February 2025, for a song machine-learning software helped finish. The Recording Academy's rule says that trophy goes to human creators only2. "Now and Then" got it anyway.
John Lennon recorded the song on a home cassette in 1977, at his apartment in New York's Dakota building1. He died in 1980, long before anyone finished it. A tool called MAL, built by Peter Jackson's company WingNut Films, pulled his voice out of the tape hiss decades later.
Where AI Stops and Human Work Begins
The Recording Academy wrote its AI rule in 2023. A work needs human authorship to earn a nomination, in any category2. The rule welcomes AI help too, as long as the human part stays "meaningful and more than de minimis".
Mark Benincosa, a recording-technology professor at West Virginia University, draws the plainest version of that line. Software that evens out volume levels passes easily, he says. A tool that writes the hook sits on the other side9.
Harvey Mason Jr., the Recording Academy's chief executive, set that limit the same summer. "If AI did the songwriting or created the music, that's a different consideration. But the Grammy will go to human creators at this point," Mason said3.
Mason still treats the rule as unfinished business. "We know AI is moving fast, and we're going to keep looking at this year by year," Harvey Mason Jr. told Grammy.com in June 20268.
One Vocal Line Already Won
"Now and Then" earned two nominations on Nov. 10, 2024: Record of the Year and Best Rock Performance5. Paul McCartney defended the method once the nod made news. "Nothing has been artificially or synthetically created. It's all real and we all play on it. We cleaned up some existing recordings, a process which has gone on for years," McCartney said1.
Surviving members tried once before, in 1995, recording bass, drums and guitar over Lennon's demo1. George Harrison found the old tape too rough to finish, and the attempt stopped there. Starr and McCartney picked the song back up in 2022, adding finished drums, bass, a slide-guitar solo and piano in Lennon's style.
Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles hosted the ceremony on Feb. 2, 202510. Kendrick Lamar's fully human "Not Like Us" took Record of the Year6. "Now and Then" still won Best Rock Performance, beating The Black Keys, Green Day, Idles, Pearl Jam and St Vincent.
The Academy's AI Rule Has Run 4 Grammy Cycles Since 2023
Dated events in the Recording Academy's human-authorship standard, 2023 through the pending 69th Grammys
Each pin is a dated event in the rule's life, from its 2023 adoption through the Beatles' 2025 win to the next nominations on Nov. 16, 2026.
Sources: American Songwriter [2]; American Songwriter [5]; Gold Radio [6]; Grammy.com [7]; Grammy.com [8]. Chart by Ryan Elliott Dennis.
The numbers behind this chart
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| June 20, 2023 | Academy adopts AI rule |
| Nov. 10, 2024 | "Now and Then" earns 2 nods |
| Feb. 2, 2025 | Beatles win Best Rock Performance |
| June 16, 2026 | Mason says rule still stands |
| Nov. 16, 2026 | 69th nominations announced |
Sean Lennon accepted the award for the band. "I really didn't expect to be accepting this award on behalf of my father's group The Beatles but it's really incredible," Sean Lennon said6. Gold Radio called it the band's first Grammy win in 28 years.
The Beatles' AI-Assisted Track Beat 5 Rivals for Best Rock Performance
Best Rock Performance nominees, 67th Grammy Awards, Feb. 2, 2025, one cube per nominee
Each cube is one of the six nominees for Best Rock Performance; the accent cube is the Beatles' "Now and Then," the only one built on an AI-restored vocal.
Source: Gold Radio [6]. Chart by Ryan Elliott Dennis.
The numbers behind this chart
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| "Now and Then" (the winner) | 1 |
| The other five nominees | 5 |
| Whole | 6 |
Both Sides Read One Rule Differently
Linda Bloss-Baum teaches at American University and sits on the board of Songwriters of North America. She called the Beatles case a model for the industry. "There's a lot of bad that can come to artists from AI, but this is an example of something really good," Bloss-Baum said4.
Benincosa reads the same rule and shows how much AI it would still allow. "Is it OK by National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Grammy standards to use an AI music generator to add backing vocals to a song I wrote and recorded with humans? Almost certainly," Benincosa wrote9.
That gap matters. "Now and Then" used AI for one narrow job: separating one voice from a noisy old tape1. Benincosa's own example lets AI write a vocal part, then still counts the finished song as human work9.
A Bigger Test Lands Nov. 16
The Recording Academy still splits its rule by category. A song needs a majority human-written melody or lyric to compete as a composition2. Performance categories need a human performer on the recording.
Nominations for the 69th Grammy Awards post Nov. 16, 202678. The Recording Academy posted that date itself.
GRAMMYS@GrammysNominations for the 2027 Grammy Awards will be announced Monday, Nov. 16, 2026, starting at 4:45 AM PT / 7:45 AM ET on the official Grammys YouTube channel.
Everything you need to know about the Grammy Nominations announcement ⤵️https://t.co/S8hfun3hQy
The show airs Feb. 7, 2027, back at Crypto.com Arena7. Whatever gets nominated this round will test Benincosa's boundary with less tape-cleaning and more AI composing than "Now and Then" ever tried.
What to Do
Read a song's credits before you assume a human wrote every note. Check whether AI touched the lyrics, the melody or just the mix, because the Recording Academy treats those three jobs differently2.
Ask your own label or publisher where your contract draws that line. A deal written for AI-assisted work should name which jobs AI can touch and which stay yours alone. Put it in plain terms both sides can point to later.
Save the session file that shows your own hand on the track: a vocal take, your early draft, the session's dated log. A Grammy entry, or a royalty dispute, will ask for that file first.
By the Numbers
- 2023: year the Recording Academy adopted its human-authorship rule for every category2.
- 1995: first year the surviving Beatles tried to finish the song, before George Harrison called the old tape too rough1.
- 2: nominations "Now and Then" received on Nov. 10, 2024: Record of the Year and Best Rock Performance5.
- 1: of those two categories the song won, Best Rock Performance6.
- 5: other acts the Beatles beat for that trophy: The Black Keys, Green Day, Idles, Pearl Jam and St Vincent6.
- 28 years: span Gold Radio counted since the band's prior Grammy win6.
- Nov. 16, 2026: date the Recording Academy will announce its next nominations7.
What to Watch
Watch whether any nominee named Nov. 16 discloses an AI tool heavier than tape-cleaning, such as an AI-written hook or backing part9. The Recording Academy's own rulings on those entries will show where Mason's "year by year" review actually lands8. A contested nomination would put Benincosa's boundary to its first real test, with a working musician's credit on the line.
Sources
- Wikipedia contributors, "Now and Then (Beatles song)," Wikipedia, accessed Nov. 1, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Now_and_Then_(Beatles_song)
- American Songwriter staff, "The Recording Academy Details Grammy Awards Criteria for AI-Generated Music," American Songwriter, June 20, 2023, https://americansongwriter.com/the-recording-academy-bans-ai-generated-music-from-grammy-awards/
- CyberPR Music staff, "The Recording Academy Updates Grammy Guidelines to Account for AI Use in Music," CyberPR Music, July 13, 2023, https://cyberprmusic.com/2023/07/13/the-recording-academy-updates-grammy-guidelines-to-account-for-ai-use-in-music/
- France 24 staff, "Beatles' Grammy nod spotlights music industry's AI debates," France 24, Jan. 30, 2025, https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250130-beatles-grammy-nod-spotlights-music-industry-s-ai-debates
- American Songwriter staff, "'Now and Then' by The Beatles Scores Grammy Nom for Record of the Year in 2025," American Songwriter, Nov. 10, 2024, https://americansongwriter.com/now-and-then-by-the-beatles-scores-grammy-nom-for-record-of-the-year-in-2025/
- Gold Radio staff, "The Beatles win a major Grammy Award for their last song 'Now and Then'," Gold Radio, Feb. 3, 2025, https://www.goldradio.com/artists/the-beatles/grammy-win-now-then/
- The Recording Academy, "Grammy Nominees To Be Unveiled Monday, Nov. 16," Grammy.com, Nov. 6, 2026, https://www.grammy.com/news/grammy-nominees-to-be-unveiled-monday-nov-16/
- The Recording Academy, "Grammys CEO Harvey Mason jr. Talks New Grammy Categories Debuting At The 2027 Grammys," Grammy.com, June 16, 2026, https://www.grammy.com/news/grammys-ceo-harvey-mason-jr-2027-grammys-interview-new-categories/
- Mark Benincosa, "Grammys' AI rules aim to keep music human, but large gray area leaves questions about authenticity and authorship," The Conversation, Jan. 30, 2026, https://theconversation.com/grammys-ai-rules-aim-to-keep-music-human-but-large-gray-area-leaves-questions-about-authenticity-and-authorship-274504
- Def Pen staff, "Everything You Need To Know About The 67th GRAMMY Awards," Def Pen, Feb. 2, 2025, https://defpen.com/2025-grammy-awards-guide/
- GRAMMYS (@Grammys), post announcing the 2027 Grammy nominations date, X, Oct. 16, 2026, https://x.com/Grammys/status/2111127570985136517
