Retelling the Jomon story
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 22-Jun-2026 15:15 ET (22-Jun-2026 19:15 GMT/UTC)
Generative AI has the power to influence how the past is represented and visualized. Researchers across the country are exploring this phenomenon, including the University of Maine's Matthew Magnani, assistant professor of anthropology, and Jon Clindaniel, a professor at the University of Chicago who specializes in computational anthropology. They asked two chatbots to create images and narratives depicting daily life of Neanderthals and found that accuracy rests on AI’s ability to access source information. In this instance, the images and narratives referenced outdated research.
MPI-GEA researchers have worked with an international consortium to create a new open-science computing platform for studying the diversity of past urbanism and systematically comparing it to the cities of today.