AI Meets Astrology Creating a Digital Edition of Anton Brelochs’s 1529 Practica with Transkribus and ChatGPT

Abstract

This paper explores the integration of AI tools like Transkribus and ChatGPT in creating a digital edition of Anton Brelochs’s 1529 Practica Teutsch. The research uses the rare intact copy at the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library to assess the efficacy of AI in transcription, translation, and tagging processes. Key questions include AI’s role in identifying and correcting transcription errors, speeding up translations to enhance accessibility, and automating TEI XML tagging. The study highlights both the strengths and limitations of these AI tools, concluding that while they offer valuable assistance, human oversight remains crucial for accuracy and scholarly reliability. Additionally, the paper examines AI’s potential in interpreting historical illustrations, such as the astrological woodcut in Brelochs’s work, demonstrating its capabilities in suggesting plausible identifications of depicted figures.