A New Chatbot Wants to Unlock the Secrets in Tattered Ancient #Greek Records - https://www.wired.com/story/apollo-ai-model-ancient-greek-secrets-papyrus/ "In the hope of uncovering new details about ancient life, researchers have developed a large language model that fills in the gaps in papyrus fragments." #linguistics
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@petealexharris its guesses might nonetheless spark good ideas from humans
@glynmoody
Humans can guess too, and at least they are aware that's what they're doing. My concern is people assuming that because "artificial intelligence" made the guesses they're somehow new information. But it's going to be like when you ask AI to "enhance" a blurry photo.
OTOH nothing important hinges on what we think ancient Greeks were doing.
@glynmoody
The most plausible speculation is still only speculation, even if you automate it so the biases and influences that feed into the speculation are spread over a mathematical model instead of in a researcher's head.
If the LLM fills in a gap with something that the text around it doesn't *directly support* then it's not unlocking secrets or uncovering anything, it's making shit up.