AI and Manuscript

 Artificial intelligence reconstructs fragmented Jewish history | The Verge 

Artificial intelligence reconstructs

fragmented Jewish history

By Amar Toor on May 27, 2013 07:27 am Email @amartoo

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COMMENTS

SOURCE THE NEW YORK TIMES

IMAGE CREDIT WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

RELATED ITEMS HISTORY RESEARCH NETWORK CULTURE ISRAEL AI

COMPUTER MIDDLE EAST JUDAISM SOFTWARE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

CAIRO GENIZAH

Researchers have spent years trying to piece together the Cairo genizah — a centuries-spanning

collection of more than 100,000 documents on early Jewish life and customs. Today, these

documents are fragmented and scattered across the globe, making it difficult for scholars to

manually catalog them. But as the New York Times reports , some see hope in a new artificial

intelligence program capable of scanning and matching genizah fragments within a matter of

minutes. At Tel Aviv University, researchers have created a network of 100 computers running AI

software that conducts 4.5 trillion calculations per second. The idea is to apply a more scientific

and automated method to an otherwise arduous and painstaking process.

"In one hour, the computer can compare 10 million pairs — 10 million pairs is something a

human being cannot do in a lifetime," Roni Shwek, one of the project's leaders, told the Times .

"It's going to be a very powerful tool for every researcher today that's going to work on one

fragment. In a few seconds, he'll be able to find the other fragments, like finding the needle in

the hay."