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AI minds the gap and fills in missing Greek inscriptions

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming many areas of research. A new AI tool helps to fill in missing text and estimate the timeframe and geographical origin of ancient inscriptions.
  1. Charlotte Roueché

    1. Charlotte Roueché is in the Department of Classics, King’s College London, London WC2R 2LS, UK.

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The possibility that artificial intelligence (AI) will automate tasks and thus destroy certain jobs is advancing steadily into more and more areas of life; the waves are now lapping even on the quiet shores of ancient-world studies. In a paper in Nature, Assael et al.1 present an AI tool called Ithaca, which has been developed to bring deep learning to the world of classical studies and the interpretation of transcribed ancient Greek texts, which were originally inscribed on stone. But this advance should not be interpreted as a threat to centuries of tradition — rather as a complement to them.

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Nature 603, 235-236 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00641-2

References

  1. Assael, Y. et al. Nature 603, 280–283 (2022).

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Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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