DeepMind, Google’s British AI company, has launched Aeneas, an innovative tool designed to interpret and contextualize ancient texts, specifically Latin inscriptions from the Roman era. According to the Independent, Aeneas holds the potential to revolutionize historical research, allowing historians to deepen their understanding of the past. Research published in Nature demonstrates Aeneas’s ability to reconstruct missing segments of fragmented Latin inscriptions, addressing a significant challenge as many historical texts are damaged or incomplete. By analyzing thousands of inscriptions quickly, Aeneas identifies textual and contextual similarities, which aids in dating events within a 13-year window and restores inscriptions with 73% accuracy for gaps of up to ten characters. Furthermore, researchers aim to adapt Aeneas for additional ancient languages, potentially broadening its applications to deciphering texts on papyri and coins, ultimately enriching historical connections and discoveries. This advancement represents a significant leap in the intersection of AI and historical scholarship.
