An AI program can predict missing words from 4,500-year-old Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets

An artificial-intelligence program is able to predict missing words from cuneiform tablets that are up to 4,500 years old with stunning accuracy. The tablets include information about Mesopotamia from between 2500 BC and 100 AD, but missing text has hindered scientists' abilities to uncover the secrets of the ancient civilization. The AI, which was taught how to read 104 languages, was fed transcriptions of 10,000 cuneiform tablets. It accurately predicted the missing words, phrases and sentences, similarly to how the autosuggest feature on your phone suggests the next line. Mesopotamia is one of the world's oldest known civilizations and gave rise to the Sumerian, Assyrian and Babylonian empires.