In recent months, the development in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) has been rapid. Since ChatGPT's arrival in November 2022, we've seen big tech companies launch their AI chatbots, and the emergence of AI-powered applications such as image editors, voice modulators, and more. It has even been integrated into the world's most popular apps such as Microsoft Office, and Adobe Photoshop. However, not all is perfect. While this technology is indeed making life easier, debates have already taken place regarding its regulation, as well as the privacy and security issues that come along with it. It has also given rise to fears over whether it could take over jobs, following which the SAG-AFTRA went on strike.
College Student Uses Machine Learning to Decipher Word in Ancient Roman Scroll
13.10.2023 - 23:00 / pcmag.com
The Vesuvius Challenge is an academic contest to see who can translate ancient Roman scrolls recovered from the lost cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii through the use of machine learning. Researchers have been itching to see what's inside the scrolls since their excavation in 1752, and we now have some answers.
College student and former SpaceX summer intern Luke Farritor determined that one of the scrolls says the word Porphyras, which translates to purple. Youssef Nader, an Egyptian biorobotics grad student, verified the finding later, earning him second place.
Both students were inspired by work previously done by Casey Handmer, who was the first person to find evidence that ink exists on the scrolls.
For their efforts, Farritor and Nader were awarded the First Letters Prize, which carries with it a $50,000 reward for finding 10 legible letters in a 4-square-centimeter area on any scroll. Luke will get $40,000 and Youssef gets $10,000.
This is exciting for several reasons. The scrolls were buried and carbonized by the Vesuvius eruption in 79 AD. Despite being excavated hundreds of years ago, few of the scrolls have ever been read because most of them crumble into dust when they're opened. A few attempts were made in the intervening years after the discovery, but no one has attempted to open a scroll since the 19th century. The contents of the remaining scrolls are a complete mystery.
Dr. Brent Seales and his team took high-resolution X-rays of the scrolls and used a virtual unwrapping technique to digitally flatten out the scrolls. There was only one problem. The ink used by ancient Romans doesn't show up on X-rays. Researchers correctly estimated that machine learning could discern the difference between ink and blank papyrus. Thus, the Vasuvius Challenge was born to see who could get a computer to read the scrolls first.
Farritor and Nader are the first to produce prize-winning contributions to the challenge. Farritor used Handmer's existing work along with machine learning to identify the parts of the X-ray that were ink. As the models trained, more and more letters started to appear, and eventually, the first word was found. Meanwhile, Nader independently focused more on ink detection as part of the Ink Detection prize on Kraggle, which is also part of the Vesuvius Challenge. Nader's methods are available on GitHub as are Farritor's.
With this discovery, researchers believe that it's only a matter of time before a team deciphers an entire scroll and wins the Vesuvius Challenge. In fact, Nader's model has already generated a new image that shows even more letters that had, until this week, been hidden from human sight for 2,000 years.
Sign up for What's New Now to get our top stories
The website gametalkz.com is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.
Top Authors
Popular Topics
destructoid.com
01.11.2023 / 18:31
I gave it the old college try, but I’ve hit a roadblock in Cities: Skylines II
The launch state of Cities: Skylines II is awful, to say the least. Even as a fan of the first game and of city builders in general, I’m not going to defend it. The game should not have been released in this state.
venturebeat.com
01.11.2023 / 14:19
16-year-old student creates LIFTnow in Minecraft as a game for treating insomnia
Varun Thvar wants to educate people about how they can get treatment for insomnia. That isn’t news, but Thvar is a 16-year-old student who has a unique approach to the problem: video games.
pcgamer.com
30.10.2023 / 18:13
For just $750 here's a high-spec all-AMD gaming laptop with a rare Radeon GPU that will smash any RTX 4050 machine
Asus TUF A16 | Radeon RX 7600S | AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS | 16GB DDR5 | 512GB SSD | 16-inch | 1200p | 165Hz | $1,099.99$749.99 at Best Buy (save $350)For a gaming laptop with close to RTX 4060-level gaming performance the TUF A16 feels like a genuine bargain. That 512GB SSD is a bit miserly, but everything else seems like excellent value for money. That RX 7600S GPU is a rare AMD mobile GPU, and sits above the RTX 4050 and a bit below the RTX 4060 in terms of performance. For a $750 gaming laptop, that's a good place to be.
gematsu.com
30.10.2023 / 16:53
Xuan Yuan Sword: Mists Beyond the Mountains for Switch launches December 8
The Switch version of Xuan-Yuan Sword: Mists Beyond the Mountains will launch on December 8 for $14.99 / €14.99, publishers Eastasiasoft and Gamera Games, and developer Softstar Entertainment announced. A 10 percent-off launch discount will be available for a limited time. The PC version will also be available via Microsoft Store on the same date.
gamesradar.com
28.10.2023 / 11:31
The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall nearly destroyed Bethesda: "If you weren't putting in 60 hours minimum, your job was in danger"
The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall, released way back in 1996, was the second installment in what went on to become Bethesda’s beloved, genre-defining RPG series, but it sounds like it was a particularly tricky one to get off the launchpad - and that if it hadn’t come together it could have meant the end of the studio itself.
pcgamer.com
26.10.2023 / 12:51
Microsoft Word hits the big Four-O and if you can remember the first version, you're officially ancient
Long before GPUs and multicore processors were a thing, Microsoft decided to enter the lucrative world of business software with its word processing application, Word. If you're wondering just how long ago that was, well the ubiquitous electronic typewriter celebrates its 40th birthday this week.
gamedeveloper.com
25.10.2023 / 19:35
Neon Machine nets $20M to create moddable blockchain-powered shooter
Neon Machine has secured $20 million in Series A funding to finance production on its upcoming blockchain-based shooter, Shrapnel.
venturebeat.com
25.10.2023 / 13:51
Neon Machine raises $20M to make Shrapnel extraction shooter
Neon Machine, the developer and publisher of the highly anticipated extraction shooter game Shrapnel, has raised $20 million in funding.
pcgamer.com
23.10.2023 / 15:41
Forget Karlach and Shadowheart, my new favourite Baldur's Gate 3 pairing is this delusional fan romance with zero supporting evidence
«We were robbed,» boldly states a post on the Baldur's Gate 3 subreddit, one that inexplicably has over 13,000 upvotes. «We were cheated,» cries its sister. Both show Withers, everyone's favourite respec zombie, hastily added into a fancam-style montage with Raphael, a devilish antagonist.
pcgamer.com
23.10.2023 / 15:33
UK government has been using AI for all sorts and it's going as well as you might expect
The UK government is using deep learning algorithms, under the catch-all umbrella of AI, to help its various sections make decisions in welfare benefit claims, ascertaining cases of fraud, and even the scanning of passports. That's all probably of no surprise whatsoever but as one investigation suggests, it's opening a massive can of worms for all concerned.
screenrant.com
19.10.2023 / 19:21
The Fabulous Fear Machine Review: "A Gem To Be Found Within Its Dank Corners"
Sometimes it’s nice to play a bad guy. Whether it’s taking on the role of a villain by exploring the secrets of and being a thoroughly nasty piece of work, or being a not-so-benevolent creator in titles like series, there is something inherently fun about taking on the role of the antagonist now and again. Enter from developer Fictiorama Studios and AMC Games, which asks the player to bring about some very bad things in the world at large.