dodo

A researcher reports using the Claude Opus 5.5 AI model to help surface a previously unknown eyewitness record of the dodo, the extinct flightless bird of Mauritius. The finding is drawing attention among historians and technologists as an example of AI assisting archival discovery, with readers debating how much credit the model deserves versus traditional scholarship.

A researcher reports using Anthropic's Opus 5.5 AI model to identify a previously unknown eyewitness account of the dodo, the extinct flightless bird of Mauritius. The finding, described on the Res Obscura history blog, is drawing attention for showing how large language models can aid archival discovery in historical research.