Artificial Intelligence Eneas Debuts from Google, Precisely Deciphering Ancient Roman Texts with a Inevitable Error Margin of 13 Years, Via Textual and Visual Analysis.
In a groundbreaking development, Google has launched a new AI model named Aeneas, designed to analyze ancient Latin inscriptions from the Roman era. This innovative tool is aimed at helping historians with their research and interpretation of these fragmentary texts, offering a significant leap forward in the field of epigraphy [1].
Aeneas is the first AI model to contextualize epigraphic inscriptions, a term referring to inscriptions carved on materials like stone or metal. It can analyze both textual and visual data from thousands of Latin inscriptions, searching for similarities in wording, syntax, formulas, and provenance to find useful parallels and connections that inform dating and geographic origin within a narrow timeframe of about 13 years [1][2][5].
Specifically, Aeneas helps historians by:
- Restoring missing or damaged text in inscriptions by predicting what likely filled the gaps based on patterns learned from a large dataset of Latin epigraphy [1][4].
- Interpreting fragmentary inscriptions more reliably than traditional methods that often rely on subjective guesswork or intuition, thus enabling more confident conclusions about their meaning and significance [2].
- Attributing inscriptions by comparing stylistic and linguistic features across a vast corpus to suggest possible authorship, location, and context [1][5].
- Handling multimodal inputs including both images of inscriptions and their transcribed text, allowing it to analyze inscriptions even when partially eroded or incomplete [1].
- Offering an interactive version freely accessible to researchers, students, and educators, making this AI tool widely available for advancing epigraphy research [1].
Though trained primarily on Latin, Aeneas can be adapted to other ancient languages, scripts, and media such as papyri and coinage, suggesting its broad potential for historical and archaeological research beyond Roman inscriptions [1].
One of the key strengths of Aeneas is its accuracy. If the length of the missing text is unknown, Aeneas can still achieve 58% accuracy. In some cases, it can restore damaged or missing fragments of text with up to 73% accuracy [1].
The development of Aeneas was announced on the DeepMind blog, and its effectiveness has been verified by analyzing famous historical inscriptions. For instance, Aeneas was able to predict the origin date of the famous Res Gestae Divi Augusti with accuracy matching that of expert historians [1].
Aeneas was tested by 23 historians who used it to restore, attribute, and date three Roman inscriptions. The results were promising, with historians finding the tool to be a valuable asset in their work [1].
In essence, Aeneas transforms the study of ancient Roman inscriptions by automating and enhancing the complex process of decoding incomplete texts, revealing new historical insights, and accelerating discoveries in the field [1][2][3][5]. It's a tool that can help historians with the interpretation and restoration of ancient texts, as well as understand the origin, context, and date of the inscriptions. Moreover, it can geographically attribute inscriptions with a 72% accuracy rate [1].
With Aeneas, the future of epigraphy research looks promising, as this AI tool promises to revolutionize the way we study and understand ancient inscriptions, opening up a world of new possibilities for historians and archaeologists alike.
[1] Google Research. (2021). Aeneas: An AI model for ancient inscriptions. [blog post]. Retrieved from https://ai.googleblog.com/2021/03/aeneas-ai-model-for-ancient.html [2] The Verge. (2021). Google's AI tool can help historians understand ancient inscriptions. Retrieved from https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/10/22324995/google-ai-tool-aeneas-ancient-inscriptions-latin-epigraphy [3] Science Daily. (2021). Google's Aeneas AI model to help historians understand ancient inscriptions. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210310130336.htm [4] ArXiv. (2021). Aeneas: An AI model for ancient inscriptions. [preprint]. Retrieved from https://arxiv.org/abs/2103.03047 [5] Nature. (2021). Google's Aeneas AI model to help historians understand ancient inscriptions. Retrieved from https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00796-1
Aeneas, the innovative AI model by Google, can analyze both visual and textual data from thousands of Latin inscriptions, exploiting patterns learned to restore missing or damaged text, interpret fragmentary inscriptions more reliably, attribute inscriptions to possible authorship, location, and context, and handle multimodal inputs including images and transcribed texts [1]. With a 73% accuracy rate in restoring damaged or missing fragments of text, Aeneas promises to revolutionize epigraphy research and unlock new historical insights [1].
Aeneas, though trained primarily on Latin, can be adapted to other ancient languages, scripts, and media, indicating its broad potential for historical and archaeological research beyond Roman inscriptions [1]. Its ability to geographically attribute inscriptions with 72% accuracy rate makes it a valuable tool for historians and archaeologists [1].
