A new artificial intelligence model has been developed that only trained on data from before 1930. This AI, called Talkie, speaks as if it’s straight out of the early 20th century, complete with the slang, style, and tone of that era. It aims to bring a nostalgic twist to modern AI conversations, making it a fun and unusual tool for those interested in vintage language and history.

How the Vintage AI Was Created

Researchers trained Talkie using books, newspapers, and other texts from before 1930. The model has 13 billion parameters, making it one of the largest “vintage” language models ever built. Its purpose was to see if an AI could hold conversations in the style of the early 1900s, a time when movies with sound were still new and news announcers spoke with a distinctive Mid-Atlantic accent.

Interestingly, Talkie isn’t aware of its own time period. According to David Duvenaud, an associate professor of computer science, the AI doesn’t have a prompt telling it to stick to the past. It simply generates responses based on its training data, which sometimes leads to anachronisms or outdated references. Still, it produces responses that sound remarkably vintage, adding a playful element to interactions.

Limitations and Fascinating Possibilities

Despite its charm, Talkie isn’t perfect. It occasionally produces historically inaccurate information, such as claiming Franklin D. Roosevelt was president before he actually was. The model also shows signs of “temporal leakage,” meaning it sometimes references events outside its training period, especially from the 1950s and 1960s. This highlights how difficult it is to keep the dataset perfectly contained within a specific era.

Researchers are curious about what such a model could do beyond conversations. Questions arise about whether it could predict future events, learn modern programming languages, or even make scientific discoveries. For instance, could a vintage-trained AI, if pushed further, independently discover concepts like Einstein’s General Relativity? Early tests suggest it can generate simple code snippets, but there’s a long way to go before it can do anything groundbreaking.

Talkie also offers an amusing glimpse into how it perceives historical events. In one test, it predicted a new world war in 1936 and the widespread use of flying machines for transport. It even speculated that by 1999, “the sun will have ceased to shine,” reflecting anxieties about the approaching new millennium. Another prediction called talking pictures “overrated,” suggesting they might supplement silent films rather than replace them, highlighting the AI’s vintage perspective.

Inspired by

• https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/old-timey-ai-pre-1930