New AI model that can translate handwritten Yiddish will bring ‘the voices of the past’ back to life

"Currently, scholars working with Yiddish texts manually transcribe dozens of pages from autobiographies, diaries, and letters - a process that is both time-consuming and labour-intensive.

AI will be able to do this in a fraction of the time.

"This will help historians and linguists analyse handwritten sources that were previously too complex to process automatically,” said Gurbych.

Dr Sergii Gurbych who developed the model (Image: Vilnius University)[Missing Credit]

Other similar models have been developed in the past, but the Vilne-Yiddish is open access, meaning users will be able to add to it and other AIs will be able to learn from it, exponentially improving the future of AI Yiddish translation.

Writings of the past, which once could only be read by a Yiddish speaker, will now be able to be simply copied and pasted into a translator, allowing Jewish communities who no longer speak Yiddish - and anyone else who wishes to - connect with their past.

Gurbych continued: “Ultimately, Digital Humanities isn’t just about digitisation or data analysis - it’s about expanding access to culture and making the voices of the past legible again.”