Here. Linkage does not constitute endorsement. I haven't watched the video at the time of this posting.
AI and the Shroud of Turin
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12 responses to “AI and the Shroud of Turin”
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I am not going to watch the video; i want to have as little to do with “AI” as possible.
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The policy of the ostrich. If you can’t see what’s coming, you won’t be able to prepare for it. Maybe the AI-based video collates genuine info that I would not have been aware of otherwise.
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Bill,
Thanks for posting this link. As you know, I am intrigued by the Shroud, so I watched the video, most of which gives a very brief summary of the state of research on this artifact, with just a few minutes devoted to it and AI. It speaks of the highly realistic model that an AI program was able to create [from digital data] of the Man of the Shroud, but strangely, it never actually shows this model. For those interested in the majestic face of the Man of the Shroud uncovered by AI, see, for instance, https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIRQ4_vC6Ip/.
It is now fifty years since John P. Jackson, Eric Jumper, and William Mottern, using a VP-8 Image Analyzer showed three-dimensional data was encoded in the grayscale of the Shroud image,* which allowed them to produce an anatomically correct but far less realistic 3D image than that of the AI model.
Vito
*https://www.shroud.com/pdfs/3D%20Characteristic%20Jackson%20Jumper%201982%20OCR.pdf -
The video is 24 minutes and could have been done in 5. It consists of a highly positive slant on the current debate on the Shroud and says very little about any specific way in which AI pushes things forward. All I could glean is that it can give us a more humanly realistic image to that on the cloth.
BTW I never comment but have been reading for nigh on 20 years. We had a brief email correspondence back in 07 or 08 and I’d like to thank you wholeheartedly for your work here. -
Phi, or Phil? Dropping the ‘l’ is a clever way to make yourself untrackable. My default search engine adds the ‘l.’
I agree that the video could have been made much shorter.
Thank you very much for reading all these years. My record shows no trace of any correspondence circa aught-seven, eight. If you have a copy, would you be willing to send it to me? -
Vito,
Thanks for the summary and the links. I tend to agree with Kierkegaard. The hunt for evidence of the divinity of Christ is an “infinite approximation process.” The will comes into it: you either decide to take the leap of faith or you don’t. -
Bill,
I agree that such evidence, including the Shroud, offers, at best, support for a reasoned faith, but nothing approaching logical proof or certainty. In the end, one has, as you say, “to take the leap of faith” or not.
I like this concept of “an infinite approximation process.” It has been over sixty years since I read Kierkegaard, long ago as a undergraduate at NYU. Another life.
Vito -
Vito,
S. K. speaks of the approximation process in Concluding Unscientific Postscript.
In the most important affairs of life one cannot wait around for “sufficient evidence” (W.K. Clifford) especially if this is taken to be conclusive evidence. Should I marry this girl? Am I quite sure everything will work out? Think like that, and remain a bachelor — and miss out on the upside of marriage. Wittgenstein: “Go ahead, believe! What harm can it do?” It’s not as if there is no evidence of the divinity of Christ. The Shroud is a substantial element in a cumulative case.
In your case, given your upbringing, you should just go ahead and take the leap, as I believe you have. Especially at this late date, having had plenty of opportunity to see through the vanity of this life, what harm could it do? I’d say that a strong sense of the vanity of this life is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for taking religion seriously. For a 24-7 committed worldling it must all appear as a load of rubbish.
The case against Bergoglio and Prevost is that they strip from a guy like you the religion of your boyhood by mixing with it a bunch of leftist claptrap.
You would be able to relate to Julien Green as he portrays himself in his diary, wrestling with his “desires” as he or his female translator coyly puts it, and with his doubts, even though “At the bottom of my heart, faith still remains.” (entry of 2 March 1934) -
I had little enthusiasm for watching a 24 min video, so I just up and asked ChatGPT:
“Has artificial intelligence been used to analyze the Shroud of Turin? If so, what are the results?” The response is as follows (note point 4 on facial recognition):
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Yes, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning techniques have been used in recent years to analyze the Shroud of Turin, particularly in areas such as image analysis, dating, and pattern recognition. While these efforts have produced interesting findings, they have not definitively resolved the mystery of the shroud’s origin. Here’s a breakdown:
AI Applications to the Shroud of Turin
1. Image Analysis & 3D Reconstruction
AI has been used to enhance and extract data from the shroud’s faint image.
• Objective: Analyze the image characteristics (depth, shading, facial structure, etc.) to determine how the image was formed.
• Tools: Neural networks and 3D rendering algorithms.
• Findings:
• AI-generated 3D models confirm the image has unusual three-dimensional properties not typical of painted images.
• The facial image and body proportions have been used to generate facial reconstructions using deep learning (e.g., GANs).
• These methods support earlier non-AI findings that the image lacks brush strokes and may be the result of a projection or rapid contact process.
2. Pattern and Textile Analysis
Machine learning has been applied to evaluate:
• Weave patterns, to compare with textiles from different historical periods.
• Image segmentation, isolating bloodstains, burn marks, and image features to determine layering.
Results:
• The weave pattern (a herringbone twill) has been found in some first-century textiles, though it’s not exclusive to that period.
• AI helps better separate the image from later damage (e.g., 1532 fire), aiding efforts to isolate the original imprint.
3. Reassessment of Radiocarbon Dating
The 1988 radiocarbon dating placed the shroud between 1260–1390 AD. However, critics have suggested the samples were taken from a repaired corner.
• AI and statistical methods have been used to re-express the dating results, incorporating broader error models or contamination hypotheses.
• A 2022 study (led by scientists at the University of Padua, not strictly AI-based but computational) reanalyzed historical data using Bayesian statistics, suggesting a wider possible date range.
AI input:
• AI-assisted pattern recognition has helped to identify potential repairs or mixed fibers in the sampled area, which could bias carbon dating.
4. Facial Recognition & Comparison
Some experiments have involved comparing the face on the shroud with known artistic depictions of Jesus using facial recognition algorithms.
• These projects are speculative and often not peer-reviewed.
• While they sometimes show “high similarity” between the shroud face and ancient icons (e.g., the Christ Pantocrator), such results are subjective and interpretive, not conclusive.
Conclusion
AI has refined our understanding of the Shroud of Turin by improving image clarity, aiding 3D modeling, and reinterpreting data. However, it has not settled the debate over whether the shroud is a medieval forgery or a genuine first-century relic. Most studies conclude that AI strengthens some arguments on both sides, but definitive proof remains elusive.
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Thanks, James.
“Definitive proof remains elusive.” Understatement. Definitive proof whether the Shroud is a medieval forgery or a genuine first-century relic will always elude us. And even if it could be definitively proven that the Shroud is a first-century relic, that would not answer conclusively the two main theological questions.
First, was Jesus of Nazareth the unique Son of God and the only way (via, veritas, vita) to salvation?
Second, was Jesus of Nazareth raised by divine power from the dead even if he was not the unique Son of God? (Incarnation and Resurrection are two separate questions.)
Note also that even if it could be shown definitively that the Shroud is a first-century relic, that would not show that anything divine was involved in the production of the Shroud at all.
This is why I said to Vito (and to everyone) that you have to de-cide what you will believe and how you will live. You have to cut off theoretical investigation and ACT (belief and action, by the way, are intimately connected). This belief-driven action is consistent with investigation continuing en parergo.
Fides quarens intellectum. Faith seeks understanding and continues to seek it whether or not understanding arrives. Note also that if one lives by faith, one continues to do so whether or not complete understanding arrives. -
James,
The issues involved in the debate on the process by which and the date at which the Shroud image was formed are very complex, and the analysis of the AI, including its conclusion, are gravely lacking in precision and accuracy.
Two good introductions–albeit by supporters of an ancient date–to the current state of this debate, including the imposing empirical and mathematical criticisms of the proposed 1260-1390 date proposed by the three laboratories that conducted carbon testing in 1988, are Jean Christian Petitfils, Le Saint Suaire de Turin: Témoin de la Passion de Jésus-Christ (2022) and Guilio Fanti and Pierandrea Malfi, The Shroud of Turin: First Century After Christ!(2nd ed.). For links to numerous studies on the Shroud, we have the Shroud of Turin Website (https://www.shroud.com/).
Vito -
Bill,
“This belief-driven action is consistent with investigation continuing en parergo.”
I greatly appreciate this point; too many think that once you make the leap of faith that no doubts, questions, or hesitations remain in the mind of the believer. The search continues as you affirm your choice in what to believe and act in accordance with it. This insight of yours has been a great help to me over the years.
Vito
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