Recently, the team led by Professor Shi Xiaodong from the School of Information at Xiamen University has had their project titled "Multimodal Large Model Based on Oracle Bone Script for Multidimensional Information Assistance in Oracle Bone Script Interpretation" selected as one of the TOP 10 innovative exploratory projects in the "Exploration Yuan Plan 2024," paving new paths for the modernization of oracle bone script interpretation.
As one of the four major ancient scripts in the world, oracle bone script has a history of over three thousand years and is the source of modern Chinese characters. However, traditional interpretation of oracle bone script relies on manual analysis by experts, which is cumbersome and time-consuming. Despite methods such as character shape analysis and example studies being employed, the interpretation process remains fraught with challenges. In recent years, the rise of artificial intelligence, particularly deep learning models, has provided new ideas for assisting in the interpretation of oracle bone script.
The "Multimodal Large Model Based on Oracle Bone Script for Multidimensional Information Assistance in Oracle Bone Script Interpretation" proposed by the Xiamen University team leverages AI technology's semantic representation capabilities. It systematically organizes and constructs a large-scale dataset of oracle bone script, utilizing cross-modal understanding to enhance interpretation efficiency. The project has designed several tasks and evaluation methods closely related to actual interpretation, including cross-font image mapping, cross-font IDS decoding, and translation relationships between oracle characters and modern characters, aiming to effectively train a multimodal large model to assist in oracle bone script interpretation through these technical solutions.
Additionally, the project has developed an end-to-end comprehensive interpretation model that integrates sound, shape, meaning, and usage. By utilizing character structure, semantic associations, homophonic substitutions, and usage clustering analysis, a more streamlined interpretation system has been created to suit resource-limited practical application scenarios.
It is reported that the "Exploration Yuan Plan 2024" is guided by the Science and Education Department of the National Cultural Heritage Administration and initiated in collaboration with multiple institutions, aiming to promote the development of cultural heritage protection and digital technology. The project team from Xiamen University has successfully gained recognition due to years of in-depth research in the field of oracle bone script. Professor Shi Xiaodong stated that they will continue to optimize technology in the future to advance the modernization of oracle bone script research, contributing to the protection and inheritance of China's cultural heritage.