I had an AI speak English every century – it ended with a message from the year 15,000 – Decipher

If you’ve ever tried to read Chaucer in the original Middle English, then you know the feeling. The words almost sound familiar, but your brain can’t quite put the puzzle together.

Now try real Old English from the year 900 and you’ll hit a wall: “Þu sprycst be wundrum þe ic ne mæg understandan.”

That’s not a typo. This is a real letter (þ, called “thorn”) that the English used for centuries before abandoning it entirely. As we all know, language evolves. Just ask Generation Z.

While English has lost most of its grammatical cases, it still regulates (or is still regulating) irregular verbs. Over time, it has adopted thousands of words from French, Latin, Nordic and dozens of other languages.

Fascinated by my love of language (I speak Spanish, Portuguese and English fluently), I decided to try an experiment.

I would give an AI detailed instructions on how to roleplay as a historical linguist who can speak in the style of any century, using contemporary vocabulary, grammar, etc.