A University of Iowa-led research team is aiming to use AI to restore lost sections of ancient manuscripts, with support from a $500,000 grant from Schmidt Sciences, a philanthropic organization that funds unconventional scientific research.
Paul Dilley, the Erling B. “Jack” Holtsmark Associate Professor in the UI’s Classics department and the departmental executive officer of the UI Department of Religious Studies, will train AI models for the next three years to suggest hidden characters in ancient texts.
Dilley said many ancient texts are uncovered by happenstance, such as the Herculaneum papyri, a collection of thousands of ancient Roman scrolls carbonized by the A.D. 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius…