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Char Char85's avatar

Not a fan of having AI “recreate history” artificially … a slippery slope

Gay Baldwin's avatar

It's not recreating history, it's simply clarifying the images so the original text will be legible. Sheesh. Less paranoia, okay? Or do you think CT scans and MRI's recreate your body?

Char Char85's avatar

Im so glad you provided the example of CTs and MRIs, otherwise my remedial brain wouldnt have been able to understand what you meant. And yes id be opposed to that if they were used to explain the evolution of the human body or any historical context whatsoever.

Gay Baldwin's avatar

How about photographs? They can have their colors manipulated, be faked, used to image things the human eye can't even see, like UV light. I think it’s not the technology, but the fakery and our worry about being manipulated by an image, a text, or a machine. I think you're worrying about skullduggery in the wrong place, though. It's the humans you have to watch out for ... please don't throw out the useful parts of the baby technology with the bathwater that may still seems a bit murky.

Beemac's avatar

Yes, it should made up by humans. 😉

Gay Baldwin's avatar

Do we reject germ theory because human eyes can't see things that small and we have to use a microscope? Do we stop using bulldozers to dig because they are stronger than we are? Lasers because they produce an artificially phased light? Dyes making colors that don't occur in nature? We use so many inventions to do things we really want or need because without them we could not. CT scans to find cancers, or proton therapy to treat them. Satellites for cell phones, and computer-guided rockets to launch them as no unassisted human could do. In this case, we really, really want to find out what these incredibly damaged Greek Roman papyri say that would otherwise be lost to history. This new tech is not re-writing history -- it's just letting us finally discover it. More Dead Sea Scrolls next?

Marco's avatar

Amazing anyway.

And what about that? 👇

AI is transforming the translation of ancient Babylonian tablets by enabling faster, more accurate interpretations of cuneiform texts. Machine learning models, such as those developed by researchers at Tel Aviv University and Cornell, can now translate Akkadian with high accuracy, particularly for administrative and royal texts.

Sam Tobin-Hochstadt's avatar

I wish Farritor had stuck with this very impressive work.