Researchers use AI to read ancient scrolls

In June, Italian researchers announced that they had used artificial intelligence to virtually unfurl and interpret a papyrus scroll that was burnt to a crisp during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly two millennia ago. Scholars were able to interpret the Greek text without physically unrolling the fragile scroll, which discusses Stoic philosophy.

The achievement was a product of the Vesuvius Challenge, which University of Kentucky computer scientist Brent Seales launched in 2023. The initiative has awarded thousands of dollars in cash prizes to researchers who have successfully used AI to unfurl scrolls and decipher their contents. Seales told The Guardian the virtual unrolling made him feel as if he had “just won the World Cup.”