No, AI agents did not discover a previously unknown Maya site
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TL;DR
- A Google researcher claimed to have discovered a new Maya site using AI agents analyzing lidar data.
- The purported discovery was later revealed to be a known site, documented in an academic journal last year.
- This incident underscores a growing frustration among scientists with amateurs using AI to make unverified 'discoveries' in specialized fields.
- The researcher used 48 AI agents to comb through NASA lidar data, initially focusing on Peru but shifting to the Maya region due to data availability.
- The AI flagged a significant village, but upon inquiry, Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) had no record of it being officially registered, though this did not confirm it as a new discovery.
- Archaeologists online criticized the incident, noting that local communities are often aware of sites and that AI use by non-experts can lead to superficial or incorrect conclusions.