The decryption of part of an ancient Herculaneum scroll using AI technology has won three researchers a $700,000 prize. The paper was damaged during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. and the Vesuvius Challenge was launched last year to find a solution. Youssef Nader, a PhD student in Berlin, Luke Farritor, a student and SpaceX intern, and Julian Schilliger, a robotics student, used AI to distinguish ink from papyrus and determine the text on the parchment through pattern recognition. The scrolls were buried under 65 feet of volcanic mud and needed high-resolution CT scans to be readable, which the trio used to decipher four passages of at least 140 characters.
