The Vesuvius Challenge is a million-dollar machine learning and computer vision competition to read the Herculaneum Papyri, a collection of ancient scrolls that were carbonized by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
The challenge aims to “make history” by reading an unread scroll from Herculaneum. The first team to read four passages will win a significant prize.
The scrolls are too fragile to be unrolled and read traditionally, so the challenge is to develop a way to digitally “unwrap” them and extract the text.
The competition is divided into two stages
- Ink detection: This stage is about developing algorithms to detect the ink on the scrolls, even though it is often faint and hidden beneath layers of carbon.
- Text reconstruction: Once the ink is detected, the next step is to reconstruct the text itself. This involves figuring out how the letters are connected and what words they form.
The challenge is sponsored by the Scrollprize Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and making accessible the written heritage of the ancient world. The grand prize is $700,000, with additional prizes for second and third place.
The University of Kentucky has recruited citizen scientists to use AI to parse out words from the X-ray images of the still-rolled scrolls.
The Vesuvius Challenge is a significant undertaking, not only for the potential to unlock the secrets of the Herculaneum Papyri, but also for the advancement of machine learning and computer vision.
The competition is attracting teams from all over the world, and the solutions that are developed could have far-reaching applications in other fields, such as medical imaging and document restoration.
Some of the challenges facing the Vesuvius Challenge
- The scrolls are very fragile and can easily be damaged.
- The ink is often faint and difficult to see.
- The letters are often overlapping and connected in complex ways.
- The scrolls are written in ancient Greek and Latin, which are not as well-understood as modern languages.
Despite the challenges, there have been some promising results so far. In the ink detection stage, teams have developed algorithms that can accurately identify ink with up to 90% accuracy.
In the text reconstruction stage, teams have been able to piece together fragments of letters and words, but it is still a long way from being able to read a full scroll.
The Vesuvius Challenge is a race against time. The scrolls are slowly deteriorating, and if they are not read soon, they could be lost forever.
The competition is also a race against the limitations of current technology. It is pushing the boundaries of what is possible with machine learning and computer vision, and the solutions that are developed could have a profound impact on the way we study the past.
The Vesuvius Challenge has already seen some success. A 21-year-old undergraduate was awarded $40,000 as part of the Vesuvius Challenge for being the first to read a word from the scroll using machine learning. The deadline for the Vesuvius Challenge is 11:29 pm (PST), December 31st, 2023.
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