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AI used to decipher 2,000 year old Herculaneum papyrus scrolls


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Posted

Three young scientists have won the grand prize in the Vesuvius Challenge for deciphering passages on a previously unreadable Herculaneum scroll.

 

More than a thousand scrolls were buried and covered in volcanic debris when Mount Vesuvius erupted about 2,000 years ago. They were in a library at a Roman villa in the ancient city of Herculaneum and discovered in the 1800s by a local farmer.

 

Many people have tried to read the ancient papyrus scrolls since then, but most attempts have destroyed the documents, which were left underground rolled, carbonized and fragile, for centuries.

 

The winners — Youssef Nader, Luke Farritor and Julian Schilliger — overcame this challenge by managing to read four passages without ever unrolling the scrolls.

 

They used machine learning, a form of artificial intelligence, to read the ancient Greek text. Nadery, Farritor and Schillinger independently contributed to the Vesuvius scrolls community and now share the grand prize of $700,000 (€650,000).

 

The object was to decipher four passages of text, each of at least 140 characters, with at least 85% of characters "recoverable" — or readable.

 

Their work has revealed what are believed to be unknown texts by Philodemus, the villa's so-called philosopher-in-residence.

 

In the text, Philodemus writes about living a good life through the pleasures of beauty, music and food. Researchers say this and future discoveries in the texts will give them a "unique window into the classical world."

 

https://www.dw.com/en/ai-helps-scientists-read-unreadable-herculaneum-scrolls/a-68193293

  • Like 2

Posted

So cool

Posted

AI...were all going to be out of jobs within a year or so :biblionny:

  • Like 1
Posted

This is where I love seeing AI being implemented. Those scrolls would have been otherwise unreadable.

 

The problem isn't AI; the problem is always the human behind it using it for nefarious or lazy purposes.

  • Like 5
Posted

Can’t wait for the AI overlords. Genuinely. 

Posted

Finally a non dystopian use :heart:

Posted
31 minutes ago, The7thStranger said:

This is where I love seeing AI being implemented. Those scrolls would have been otherwise unreadable.

 

The problem isn't AI; the problem is always the human behind it using it for nefarious or lazy purposes.

Exactly. Doing things like this, that would have been impossible for a human to do without irreparably damaging the artifacts in question, is where AI technology should be used!

  • Like 7
Posted

Let’s just make AI do all of our work so we can just live freely and happily the way we’re supposed to :clap3:

Posted

archaeologists were found dead in a ditch… literally! 

 

Spoiler

jk 

 

Posted

AI is starting to give Leeloo

 

 

Posted

very cool. 

when will the Voynich Manuscript?

Posted

this is what AI is meant for

Posted
2 hours ago, The7thStranger said:

This is where I love seeing AI being implemented. Those scrolls would have been otherwise unreadable.

 

The problem isn't AI; the problem is always the human behind it using it for nefarious or lazy purposes.


Yeah like it should be exclusively used for stuff that is humanly impossible not replacing average workers or arts.

 

Hopefully regulations promote this idea 

  • Like 1
Posted

So after all that it was some outdated self help tips? Lol

Posted (edited)
Quote

living a good life through the pleasures of beauty, music and food

 

Edited by MatiRod
Posted

Someone tell Jack and Annie!

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