Elon Musk backs AI research into Ancient Rome that could rewrite history books

Elon Musk has donated money towards archaeological research driven by artificial intelligence that has the potential to change our understanding of Ancient Rome.

Through the Musk Foundation, the billionaire recently gave $1 million to the American Institute for Roman Culture (AIRC), an American non-profit whose goal is to help further our understanding of ­Greco-Roman culture.

At the annual Expandere Conscientiae Lumen prize ceremony, 11 grants were given to archaeological programs utilising this developing technology.

What has Musk said?

Speaking at the ceremony via video link on October 24, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO noted his fascination with history, particularly Ancient Rome.

“I am interested in history and Rome constitutes a large part of the history of western civilisation,” Musk said, and noted how AI will be able to fill the knowledge gaps by writing “a new history book based entirely on ancient material and archaeology”.

How are projects incorporating AI into their research?

The winning projects - five from Italy, with others in Tunisia, Morocco, and Albania - are utilising AI in a number of ways to help them with their research.

One example is using drones and photogrammetry powered by AI to create detailed 3D models of Geco-Roman sites in Jordan that we could potentially lose to climate change.

Another instance is analysing the geological “fingerprints” of pigments used in Pompeii to reconstruct the trade routes and supply chains of ancient Rome.

Musk's fascination with Ancient Rome

iStockphoto by Getty Images

Musk's interest in Ancient Rome is well-documented, after he previously called himself the “Imperator of Mars” in his X/Twitter bio back in 2021.

Then in 2023, the billionaire declared in a post that "[t]he main reason Rome won was because they had the best engineering."

In an X post in August, Musk pondered, "I wonder if Marcus Aurelius could have done more to carry Rome to greater heights or whether that was as good a job as could have been done."

So you could say Ancient Rome is Musk's Roman Empire.

Elsewhere from Indy100, discovery shows Rome’s ancient roads were far longer than we thought, and AI unravels scrolls that haven't been read in 2,000 years.

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