How AI Is Decoding Ancient Scrolls | Julian Schilliger and Youssef Nader | TED

AI researcher Youssef Nader and digital archaeologist Julian Schilliger share how they used AI to virtually "unroll" and decode the Herculaneum scrolls, burnt and buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago. Learn how AI could help decipher a range of artifacts, revealing clues about the mysteries and achievements of the ancient world. (Recorded at TEDAI Vienna on October 19, 2024)
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[@JessicaDarling2]

“The scrolling & unrolling community” 😂

[@serendipitytwo777]

THIS is the best of humanity. Working together ❤

[@rayomandd]

Education, Humility and Technology at its Finest !!! Amazing work gentlemen !

[@leeb588]

"It even made it into the British tabloids." The statement and laughter says it all about our UK newspapers! Awesome news though, the possibility of revealing lost knowledge and history!

[@cynthiachalimi5949]

Thanks

[@Actress_Monica_Biel]

Wow, it's fascinating how AI can bring ancient history back to life! The Herculaneum scrolls have so many secrets waiting to be uncovered. Can't wait to see what other treasures AI will help us discover!

[@CasperExtension]

This video wasn't on my plan, but I'm okay with it

[@daskoonskoon5070]

Ok what does it say though???

[@nuhwannnun]

no government is letting anybody release that publicly immediately lol

[@BonnieShadow33]

Any Greek readers here? They could tell you. Too bad I'm not; I just recognize Greek letters.

[@CaroleMcDonnell]

Oedipus Rex won prize three in the annual playwriting contest. Lit majors have often wondered what the first prize play was. Am so waiting to see what all these scrolls have written on them. More plays to read.

[@NickMACK1473]

watching from Grenada in the acaribbean sea

[@DIGIL.]

Please decode the Harappan manuscript

[@HVPINESS]

greatest school project ever

[@chickenfriedrice2932]

Mind blowing!

[@johnf5315]

The bigger question is how integrated AI is decoding individuals’ information?

[@DominionAnako-bb7ry]

Motivation

[@AdityaMehendale]

If this holds water, then amazing work. I see, however, a non-negligible chance, that this work shall be debunked as "mostly hallucinations" in a few years.

[@MrFelixFB]

Its unlikely due to the method of their implementation, the areas searched are much smaller than a single character it would be unusual for a machine to randomly pixel by pixel create greek text that actually sounds coherent, why greek, why does it sound coherent? Its correct that LLM's (one implementation of neural networks) just predict the next word in sequence, but this is not trained in that way its just determining if a very small section of papyrus has ink or not. Basically, if the model was hallucinating, there would not be text, and it would have been failure (the ink would be unrecoverable). Its trained to find specks of ink not characters. The program would have to mistakenly identify 100s 'squares' as ink, precisely in the shape of a Greek letter, in a place that makes a coherent word, that makes a coherent sentence, and so forth. Basically the chance this 'hallucinated' due to their clever implementation entire wrong passages is like a monkey writing hamlet first try, it could have happened! But its not likely

[@AdityaMehendale]

@@MrFelixFB I can imagine that their LLMs have been trained on coherent (known) Greek texts too, not just an "image recognition" to find ink specks. It's like the "face on the moon" meme, but pushed to its limit. Furthermore, the incentive of a "prize to be won" makes one less rigorous and self-critical than appropriate for research. There is no null-hypothesis. Again, if the researchers have done their due-diligence, then kudos. This is difficult to convey in a 10-min TED-talk, too. Let's see - time shall tell :)

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Feels bot. This same text is in many comment sections.

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i remember feeling like i was always the one fading into the background while others stood out effortlessly. it was frustrating and made me doubt myself a lot. then i came across this book, Magnetic Aura by Takeshi Mizuki, and it showed me things i’d never even considered. it’s not just a self-help book; it’s like a guide to understanding your own energy and using it to connect with people. if you’ve ever felt like you’re not seen, this book might change everything.

[@swizzblade9995]

I used to kinda bully nerds like these boys, then I started to hang out with them because they sneakily always get me insights in whatever environment I was in. Now they are my bosses and they bully me. 😢 now I’m having lunch and watching nerds talk. Life eh?

[@matthewadams5476]

So what does it say?

[@Portion2131]

How Ai can change the past..they said it clearly. Wake up public and privacy are being played

[@RickLambert963]

I just caught AI lying about the third leading cause of death. The conqueror tells his story, that's history, mostly a pack of lies told by psychopaths who weren't even there. The psychopath overlords controlling AI taught it to lie.

[@ChadKovac]

But what did it say?

[@RickLambert963]

I just caught AI lying about the third leading cause of death. The conqueror tells his story, that's history, mostly a pack of lies told by psychopaths who weren't even there. The psychopath overlords controlling AI taught it to lie.

[@Student-m4f]

the 2nd guy was more introvert than me.

[@Prince36944]

one night i was scrolling through my phone, feeling like i’d never figure out why some people just seem so magnetic. then i came across this book, Magnetic Aura by Takeshi Mizuki, and something about it caught my attention. reading it was like turning on a light in a dark room. it’s not about pretending to be someone you’re not; it’s about unlocking the energy you already have. trust me, this book is worth every page

[@daskoonskoon5070]

Is it just me or does julian seem like an ai

[@mariaantoniettamontella9173]

applausi, largo ai giovani.

[@angelreder9064]

How about AI destroying lives. Why are there no stories about that

[@NilsExp]

Check out my comment 'Dear TED' on this video 😳

[@ayatamer4028]

Cara Hunter’s talk from the same event, uploaded on this channel a month ago, is about that.

[@justiceforall2673]

What about giving your own story about how AI destroyed your life there is nothing more compelling than someone who experienced it for themselves?

[@angelreder9064]

@justiceforall2673 Over the last year alone 3 of my family members working in the tech industry have lost their jobs after training AI to replace them. They did not know their jobs were on the line because they were told they were training a new assistant for themselves only to find out after training was over they no longer had a job. Now no tech industries are hiring and they can't afford to live and 2 are currently in foreclosure and one had to move in with me because they lost their apartment. Their credit is destroyed because of their inability to work how's that for just three examples. Not to mention over 3 million jobs were lost due to layoffs and replacement by AI in the last 15 months. I bet you can't convince those 3 million people that AI is a good thing

[@riteshshukla1709]

It won't sell and attract investor!

[@NilsExp]

Dear TED, I for one, consciously attempt to avoid any reporting on AI. Though it may be "the future", it's definitely not there yet. AI scour's the internet for human created content to cobble together a curated response, not all accurate, helpful or relevant. Now we're left with this echo chamber of confused misinformation. What ever happened to the interesting, thought provoking topics you became known for? I used to think you were actually doing something positive this planet. Kind regards, 🖕!

[@ldsviking]

This is not that kind of AI. AI comes in many forms.

[@ultrakool]

I'm not sure I buy into the whole "threw a rock into a cave to flush out a goat and heard pottery break" narrative. Now they're gonna let AI gets its hooks into everything? I see a bad moon rising🙄

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😅😅

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[@lee30332]

Not exactly comfortable with this

[@pmvdmeulen]

Stupid. Ted is becoming boring.

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[@angelreder9064]

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