In May, 2021 (which seems like decades ago in the field of artificial intelligence), we explained how AI could be used to decipher ancient texts. A fascinating new project has the potential to reveal the contents of papyrus scrolls carbonized by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 70 A.D.

The Vesuvius Challenge, a machine learning and computer vision competition, is offering up to $1M in prize money for deciphering the Herculaneum Papyri, manuscripts that were part of a vast library in a villa that may once have belonged to Julius Caesar’s father-in-law. The grand prize of $700,000 will go to the first team to read four passages of text from the inside of the two intact scrolls and submit their results by December 31, 2023. The competition, launched by Professor Brent Seales, a computer scientist at the University of Kentucky, is intended to accelerate the process of using AI to “read” the scrolls. The scrolls are digitally “unwrapped” using 3-D X-ray scans. A specially-trained AI program is then used to recognize ink from the scans.

A major breakthrough was announced in August 2023 when a researcher was the first to see an entire word from within an unopened scroll. The Greek word translates to “purple.” Interestingly the competition has spawned collaboration rather than the opposite. Results are shared on the messaging platform Discord. Professor Seales says, “[F]or me, reading words from within the Herculaneum scrolls is like stepping onto the moon.” Stay tuned!