Academic researchers specializing in Sanskrit manuscripts have successfully used a new AI deep-learning model to reconstruct lost portions of a 5th-century commentary on the Nyaya-Sutras. The fragments, discovered in a degraded state within a Buddhist stupa in Tajikistan, contain critical discussions on the nature of perception and inference. The AI, trained on thousands of contemporary philosophical texts, was able to predict missing characters and syntax with 94% accuracy.
The study, featured in the Journal of Indian Philosophy, reveals that the manuscript details a previously unrecorded debate between Brahmanical and Buddhist logicians regarding the 'validity of verbal testimony.' This decipherment breakthrough provides new insights into the intellectual exchange along the northern Silk Road and the spread of Sanskrit logical traditions beyond the Indian subcontinent.