The Potential of Machine Reading Entire Books Without Human Intervention

Technically, it is possible for a machine to read an entire book with no human intervention, though this process is complex. Currently, machines can digitize books and understand the content to a considerable degree. However, true Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), which would be capable of understanding the nuances of a book without human intervention, has yet to be developed. As we approach the capabilities needed to maintain concepts and relate them with written material, the stage for such advancements is set.

Automated Page Turners and Digitization

In the realm of book digitization, automatic page turners have been around since the mid-1980s. These machines can flip through bound books and 'read' them for digitization. The apps that perform this task correct images to remove distortions at the gutter, ensuring clean images of each page. They also do an excellent job of digitizing text, making it searchable and readable as text, as well as providing clean imagery for text illustrations and photos.

While the process is highly automated, it still requires some manual effort to achieve a perfect digital copy. Typically, with no human intervention, the accuracy ranges from 80% to 99.5%, depending on the quality and condition of the book. These machines have been utilized in various projects, such as digitizing archives for courthouses and municipal agencies.

Archival Digitization Projects

Early efforts in archival digitization include a project for our great Commonwealth, where we utilized an array of SCSI 'CD juke boxes' to store both text and images. One of the highlight presentations showed a truckload of records being transported for digitization, with archivists producing a small stack of CDs containing the content. The process could index and store records as they were read and digitized.

A friend of mine worked on a project in Newport News to digitize courthouse records. This project involved running an automatic page turner for months, digitizing each book. This ensured that, even if the courthouse were to be destroyed in the future, the records would be preserved on multiple CD copies of archival quality, making them more 'permanent' than paper records and more accessible for public use.

AI in Supercomputers

While machines can read books and understand their content to a great extent, the use of AI in supercomputers like IBM’s Watson demonstrates the potential for machines to delve deeper into the material. AI in these supercomputers can read books, learn from their content, and engage in cogent debates about them. This capability makes it difficult to discern between machine and human in such interactions, showcasing the advanced understanding these systems can achieve.

The ongoing advancements in AI and machine learning continue to push the boundaries of what machines can achieve. As these technologies continue to develop, the potential for machines to read and understand entire books without human intervention becomes more feasible. This not only revolutionizes the way we store and access information but also transforms how we think about the role of machines in comprehension and communication.

Conclusion

The feasibility of machines reading entire books without human intervention is a burgeoning field with practical applications in archival preservation, public record access, and advanced AI capabilities. As technology advances, the horizon for what machines can achieve in terms of understanding and interpreting complex written material grows ever closer to reality.