Job Offer - Typing 1,500 pages of Blackletter Font for $2,400 ($200 per month, for 12 months.)

[erickinho1bra]

I have to say, that is pretty dang good. Almost shockingly good. Thank you for pointing this out brother, as I may have to invest the $20 a month to check this out further. I dont think I am making an understatement when I say, this is getting to the level that it could revolutionize and bring to light, in such a way, as to get all of the Puritan and Non-Conformist works in no-cost ePub format in my lifetime. Especially if there could be some sort of team effort. Again, that is shockingly good. This AI not only transcribed the text, but made the updated spelling changes.

Totally forgot to mention, but you can use the updated GPT4o model for free but it hasn’t been released to the public yet. Paid subscribers get priority access (which is how I can call it) and will have 5x higher usage limits but I do think even free-tier users will get about 10-20 requests/day. You can check OpenAi’s website for updates.

Here is what I got.
Certainly! Here is the transcribed text from the image:



---



of the deceitfulnesse and guile of Mans Heart.



well worth the insisting upon, to shew the unfearchable hy-

pocrifie, and hidden deceitfulnesse that the heart of man hath

about sinne; to do it, and yet so to carry it as if he did not

sinne: If there could be a way found out to make sinne no

sinne, or that sinne should not be damnable, this would great-

ly content him; but that being impossible, he labours what he

can to delude his own heart, and to cover sin in his own foul

while he commits sinne.



And first, His deceitfulnesse about sinne doth appear, In that

he will bribe his understanding to do what it can to justifie sinne,

to make it to be no sinne, but very lawfull and necessary.

When God reproved Jonah for his sinfull frowardnesse, he re-

plies, Do I not well to be angry? Jonah 4.9. He pleaded for

his vice as a virtue. Thus the Israelites had many arguments

for their Idolatry, especially they plead the abundance and

plenty they had, ever since they offered to the Queen of Hea-

ven, but since they left that they were pursued with all cala-

mities, Jer. 44.17,18. Oh the hypocrisie of the heart, that can

finde out arguments to justifie sin, and make their transgressi-

ons duties. Thus the Pharisees, they plead against Christ, out

of Scripture; and Christ informeth us, men should think they

did God service John 16.2. by killing the godly that believe

in Christ. And Paul saith of himself once, that he thought

he was bound to do what he did, viz. in persecuting the Saints,

and compelling of them to blaspheme; and from hence comes

that desperate wickednesse and incurablenesse that followeth in

the text, Their eye is darke, and then how great is their dark-

nesse! Their mindes and understandings are corrupted; they

are become Pharisees, they place the affections, as hy what they

say, deny what they deny. Thus the Sun is alwaies in an E-

clipse, there is alwaies some interposition of some earthly ad-

vantage or other; and then the faculty being distempered, or

made drunk, no marvell if it judge deceitfully. Oh they are

very jealous of their own hearts, lest it plead for Baal, lest it

argue for sin: and while thou couldst not imbrace sin as it did

appear in its ugly colours, thou putteth another dress upon it,

and so makes it lovely. There is a woe to those that call evil

good, Is. 5.18. and good evil, light darknesse, and darknesse light.

From:

View attachment 11089

That is not bad at all.

Which version did you use (3.5, 4, or 4o)? And what was your prompt? You can ask it to give you the output in modern spelling in your initial prompt

 

[Logan]

Impressive. Far better than I would have thought.

 

[davejonescue]

This is what I got using the suggestion to ask it "to update spelling where applicable."

Certainly! Here is the transcribed text from the image with updated spelling:

---

Of the deceitfulness and guile of Man's Heart.

Well worth the insisting upon, to show the unsearchable hypocrisy, and hidden deceitfulness that the heart of man has about sin; to do it, and yet so to carry it as if he did not sin. If there could be a way found out to make sin no sin, or that sin should not be damnable, this would greatly content him; but that being impossible, he labors what he can to delude his own heart, and to cover sin in his own soul while he commits sin.

And first, His deceitfulness about sin does appear. In that he will bribe his understanding to do what it can to justify sin, to make it to be no sin, but very lawful and necessary. When God reproved Jonah for his sinful frowardness, he replies, Do I not well to be angry? Jonah 4.9. He pleaded for his vice as a virtue. Thus the Israelites had many arguments for their Idolatry, especially they plead the abundance and plenty they had, ever since they offered to the Queen of Heaven, but since they left that they were pursued with all calamities, Jer. 44.17, 18. Oh the hypocrisy of the heart, that can find out arguments to justify sin, and make their transgressions duties. Thus the Pharisees, they plead against Christ, out of Scripture; and Christ informs us, men should think they did God service John 16.2. by killing the godly that believe in Christ. And Paul said of himself once, that he thought he was bound to do what he did, viz. in persecuting the Saints, and compelling of them to blaspheme; and from hence comes that desperate wickedness and incurableness that follows in the text, Their eye is dark, and then how great is their darkness! Their minds and understandings are corrupted; they are become Pharisees, they place the affections, say what they say, deny what they deny. Thus the Sun is always in an Eclipse, there is always some interposition of some earthly advantage or other; and then the faculty being distempered, or made drunk, no marvel if it judge deceitfully. Oh they are very jealous of their own hearts, lest it plead for Baal, lest it argue for sin: and while thou could not embrace sin as it did appear in its ugly colors, thou put another dress upon it, and so makes it lovely. There is a woe to those that call evil good, Is. 5.18. and good evil, light darkness, and darkness light.

---



I think this would be the best method though; that is to ask it to update formatting while leaving the original spelling. This way you do not have to worry about it making word changes where they dont belong.

"Certainly! Here is the transcribed text from the image with updated formatting but original spelling:

---

**Of the deceitfulnesse and guile of Mans Heart.**

Well worth the insisting upon, to shew the unfearchable hypocrisie, and hidden deceitfulnesse that the heart of man hath about sinne; to do it, and yet so to carry it as if he did not sinne: If there could be a way found out to make sinne no sinne, or that sinne should not be damnable, this would greatly content him; but that being impossible, he labours what he can to delude his own heart, and to cover sin in his own foul while he commits sinne.

And first, **His deceitfulnesse about sinne doth appear,** In that he will bribe his understanding to do what it can to justifie sinne, to make it to be no sinne, but very lawfull and necessary. When God reproved Jonah for his sinfull frowardnesse, he replies, *Do I not well to be angry?* (Jonah 4.9). He pleaded for his vice as a virtue. Thus the Israelites had many arguments for their Idolatry, especially they plead the abundance and plenty they had, ever since they offered to the Queen of Heaven, but since they left that they were pursued with all calamities, (Jer. 44.17, 18). Oh the hypocrisie of the heart, that can finde out arguments to justifie sin, and make their transgressions duties. Thus the Pharisees, they plead against Christ, out of Scripture; and Christ informeth us, men should think they did God service (John 16.2.) by killing the godly that believe in Christ. And Paul saith of himself once, that he thought he was bound to do what he did, viz. in persecuting the Saints, and compelling of them to blaspheme; and from hence comes that desperate wickednesse and incurablenesse that followeth in the text, *Their eye is darke, and then how great is their darknesse!* Their mindes and understandings are corrupted; they are become Pharisees, they place the affections, say what they say, deny what they deny. Thus the Sun is alwaies in an Eclipse, there is alwaies some interposition of some earthly advantage or other; and then the faculty being distempered, or made drunk, no marvell if it judge deceitfully. Oh they are very jealous of their own hearts, lest it plead for Baal, lest it argue for sin: and while thou couldst not imbrace sin as it did appear in its ugly colours, thou putteth another dress upon it, and so makes it lovely. There is a woe to those that call evil good, (Is. 5.18.) and good evil, light darknesse, and darknesse light."

---

 

[erickinho1bra]

This is what I got using the suggestion to ask it "to update spelling where applicable."

Certainly! Here is the transcribed text from the image with updated spelling:

---

Of the deceitfulness and guile of Man's Heart.

Well worth the insisting upon, to show the unsearchable hypocrisy, and hidden deceitfulness that the heart of man has about sin; to do it, and yet so to carry it as if he did not sin. If there could be a way found out to make sin no sin, or that sin should not be damnable, this would greatly content him; but that being impossible, he labors what he can to delude his own heart, and to cover sin in his own soul while he commits sin.

And first, His deceitfulness about sin does appear. In that he will bribe his understanding to do what it can to justify sin, to make it to be no sin, but very lawful and necessary. When God reproved Jonah for his sinful frowardness, he replies, Do I not well to be angry? Jonah 4.9. He pleaded for his vice as a virtue. Thus the Israelites had many arguments for their Idolatry, especially they plead the abundance and plenty they had, ever since they offered to the Queen of Heaven, but since they left that they were pursued with all calamities, Jer. 44.17, 18. Oh the hypocrisy of the heart, that can find out arguments to justify sin, and make their transgressions duties. Thus the Pharisees, they plead against Christ, out of Scripture; and Christ informs us, men should think they did God service John 16.2. by killing the godly that believe in Christ. And Paul said of himself once, that he thought he was bound to do what he did, viz. in persecuting the Saints, and compelling of them to blaspheme; and from hence comes that desperate wickedness and incurableness that follows in the text, Their eye is dark, and then how great is their darkness! Their minds and understandings are corrupted; they are become Pharisees, they place the affections, say what they say, deny what they deny. Thus the Sun is always in an Eclipse, there is always some interposition of some earthly advantage or other; and then the faculty being distempered, or made drunk, no marvel if it judge deceitfully. Oh they are very jealous of their own hearts, lest it plead for Baal, lest it argue for sin: and while thou could not embrace sin as it did appear in its ugly colors, thou put another dress upon it, and so makes it lovely. There is a woe to those that call evil good, Is. 5.18. and good evil, light darkness, and darkness light.

---

View attachment 11091

I think this would be the best method though; that is to ask it to update formatting while leaving the original spelling. This way you do not have to worry about it making word changes where they dont belong.

"Certainly! Here is the transcribed text from the image with updated formatting but original spelling:

---

**Of the deceitfulnesse and guile of Mans Heart.**

Well worth the insisting upon, to shew the unfearchable hypocrisie, and hidden deceitfulnesse that the heart of man hath about sinne; to do it, and yet so to carry it as if he did not sinne: If there could be a way found out to make sinne no sinne, or that sinne should not be damnable, this would greatly content him; but that being impossible, he labours what he can to delude his own heart, and to cover sin in his own foul while he commits sinne.

And first, **His deceitfulnesse about sinne doth appear,** In that he will bribe his understanding to do what it can to justifie sinne, to make it to be no sinne, but very lawfull and necessary. When God reproved Jonah for his sinfull frowardnesse, he replies, *Do I not well to be angry?* (Jonah 4.9). He pleaded for his vice as a virtue. Thus the Israelites had many arguments for their Idolatry, especially they plead the abundance and plenty they had, ever since they offered to the Queen of Heaven, but since they left that they were pursued with all calamities, (Jer. 44.17, 18). Oh the hypocrisie of the heart, that can finde out arguments to justifie sin, and make their transgressions duties. Thus the Pharisees, they plead against Christ, out of Scripture; and Christ informeth us, men should think they did God service (John 16.2.) by killing the godly that believe in Christ. And Paul saith of himself once, that he thought he was bound to do what he did, viz. in persecuting the Saints, and compelling of them to blaspheme; and from hence comes that desperate wickednesse and incurablenesse that followeth in the text, *Their eye is darke, and then how great is their darknesse!* Their mindes and understandings are corrupted; they are become Pharisees, they place the affections, say what they say, deny what they deny. Thus the Sun is alwaies in an Eclipse, there is alwaies some interposition of some earthly advantage or other; and then the faculty being distempered, or made drunk, no marvell if it judge deceitfully. Oh they are very jealous of their own hearts, lest it plead for Baal, lest it argue for sin: and while thou couldst not imbrace sin as it did appear in its ugly colours, thou putteth another dress upon it, and so makes it lovely. There is a woe to those that call evil good, (Is. 5.18.) and good evil, light darknesse, and darknesse light."

---

I’m not sure if you like the response I got more than this one you got, but I just asked it to “transcribe and update the archaic spelling”. Telling it to “update the spelling where possible” might be understood differently. Then again, generative AI is non-deterministic, meaning the same input can return a slightly (or sometimes, a significantly) different result.

 

[davejonescue]

I’m not sure if you like the response I got more than this one you got, but I just asked it to “transcribe and update the archaic spelling”. Telling it to “update the spelling where possible” might be understood differently. Then again, generative AI is non-deterministic, meaning the same input can return a slightly (or sometimes, a significantly) different result.

If I were to use it, I wouldnt want it to make any editing changes. I would rather do the work of updating the spelling personally. I would use it more as an advanced OCR, because previously, OCR has been unable to OCR facsimiles due to the nature of various fonts within a single page. But if this can overcome that problem, and give me a word for word, even in archaic, that will be a tremendous help. I dont want it to take it upon itself to update really anything because this can lead to unwanted word changes as it just bumps up to what it thinks should be the word and updated spelling. Even though simply asking it to transcribe leaves the s,f,l,t problem, I can still highlight those instances and do a text run through to make sure the words are proper in context. It is the not having to type large chunks of text that is the saver for me, if I can utilize it that way. On the other hand, if it gets to be where I am spending just as much time editing as I would typing, then there is no real advantage; and I would still prefer to outsource the work to human typists.


Edit. After testing it out, and letting my initial excitement calm down, I have noticed the problems that still make human typing better.

1. You dont have to load a single page at a time.
2. Humans can make on the spot adjustments with minimal risks of error.

With that being said, if you have short documents, and have to OCR them often, this would be very useful. But when you are talking about archaic documents that are 100's of pages, with Hebrew and Greek included, if one has the money, in my opinion it would be better to pay someone to type it out, or spend the time to do it yourself. Editing using this AI can be done, but it is going to come at the cost of a lot work to prep and get to a final text. Just splitting and feeding so many pages to AI in single requests, then copy and pasting, then editing and comparing....its a lot. And on the surface it may seem the easier route than typing, but typing from the source allows you to minimize much of this process. The latter is time consuming, but it will give you more confidence, and make doing all the former tasks less of an issue.

 

[erickinho1bra]

If I were to use it, I wouldnt want it to make any editing changes. I would rather do the work of updating the spelling personally. I would use it more as an advanced OCR, because previously, OCR has been unable to OCR facsimiles due to the nature of various fonts within a single page. But if this can overcome that problem, and give me a word for word, even in archaic, that will be a tremendous help. I dont want it to take it upon itself to update really anything because this can lead to unwanted word changes as it just bumps up to what it thinks should be the word and updated spelling. Even though simply asking it to transcribe leaves the s,f,l,t problem, I can still highlight those instances and do a text run through to make sure the words are proper in context. It is the not having to type large chunks of text that is the saver for me, if I can utilize it that way. On the other hand, if it gets to be where I am spending just as much time editing as I would typing, then there is no real advantage; and I would still prefer to outsource the work to human typists.


Edit. After testing it out, and letting my initial excitement calm down, I have noticed the problems that still make human typing better.

1. You dont have to load a single page at a time.
2. Humans can make on the spot adjustments with minimal risks of error.

With that being said, if you have short documents, and have to OCR them often, this would be very useful. But when you are talking about archaic documents that are 100's of pages, with Hebrew and Greek included, if one has the money, in my opinion it would be better to pay someone to type it out, or spend the time to do it yourself. Editing using this AI can be done, but it is going to come at the cost of a lot work to prep and get to a final text. Just splitting and feeding so many pages to AI in single requests, then copy and pasting, then editing and comparing....its a lot. And on the surface it may seem the easier route than typing, but typing from the source allows you to minimize much of this process. The latter is time consuming, but it will give you more confidence, and make doing all the former tasks less of an issue.

Just curious, I didn’t see what model of ChatGPT you used. Was it GPT4o? Anything other than 4o is not gonna be good enough. 4o is really, really good but is not yet available to free-tier users.

Also, you can load more than one image at a time.

P.S. I don’t want to question your assessment but would like, if possible, to provide help and information. Please do not take my insistence on the possible use of ChatGPT as discrediting of your understanding. I trust you know much more about text transcription than I do.

 

[davejonescue]

Just curious, I didn’t see what model of ChatGPT you used. Was it GPT4o? Anything other than 4o is not gonna be good enough. 4o is really, really good but is not yet available to free-tier users.

Also, you can load more than one image at a time.

P.S. I don’t want to question your assessment but would like, if possible, to provide help and information. Please do not take my insistence on the possible use of ChatGPT as discrediting of your understanding. I trust you know much more about text transcription than I do.

No problem. Yes I purchased a subscription and am using 4o. I tried to upload a 200 page PDF, but then got denied, and it decided to transcribe a portion, which was about 2-3 pages. The problem with it is if you ask it to update archaic docs, it may do so with instances unintending. But, if you ask it to preserve archaic spelling, it will do so; which in turn a human can precisely update as they type. If I have even a 200 page doc, and say it can do 5 at a time, that is splitting up the doc into 40 separate PDFs, running 40 instances, copy and pasting, then editing. And also, it is like you said above, which is a little concerning, that is, it is non-determinative. Or, in your definition can have varying results per request. This again provides uncertainty you would not get with a human transcriber. Is it feasible, or can it be done? Sure. But it is not going to be as simple as it seems on the surface with bigger texts. Doing something like this will have to be reserved for when an OCR company utilizes the AI to create a program specifically for OCRing. Then page lengths will probably not matter, and possibly more standard processing will occur. But doing this in Chat, at this time, doesnt seem optimal, at least to me. But it may be for others.

I wouldnt want to dissuade anybody from using it to achieve something if they can. It if works for them, go for it.

 

[erickinho1bra]

No problem. Yes I purchased a subscription and am using 4o. I tried to upload a 200 page PDF, but then got denied, and it decided to transcribe a portion, which was about 2-3 pages. The problem with it is if you ask it to update archaic docs, it may do so with instances unintending. But, if you ask it to preserve archaic spelling, it will do so; which in turn a human can precisely update as they type. If I have even a 200 page doc, and say it can do 5 at a time, that is splitting up the doc into 40 separate PDFs, running 40 instances, copy and pasting, then editing. And also, it is like you said above, which is a little concerning, that is, it is non-determinative. Or, in your definition can have varying results per request. This again provides uncertainty you would not get with a human transcriber. Is it feasible, or can it be done? Sure. But it is not going to be as simple as it seems on the surface with bigger texts. Doing something like this will have to be reserved for when an OCR company utilizes the AI to create a program specifically for OCRing. Then page lengths will probably not matter, and possibly more standard processing will occur. But doing this in Chat, at this time, doesnt seem optimal, at least to me. But it may be for others.

I wouldnt want to dissuade anybody from using it to achieve something if they can. It if works for them, go for it.

Totally understand. You are totally giving me the motivation to work on that idea! I work in software development and I think that would be a very useful tool for the kingdom of God. Thank you for the inspiration. I hope to start on this soon and maybe in the future, the tool can reach a level of capability that can speed up your process!
Also, praise God for your work! I pray He blesses it mightily!

Also, would you happen to know where I can get a hold of some docs like those you are trying to transcribe? What might be most helpful is if you know where I can get the old document and the updated one (to be the source of truth to compare the transcription to).

 

[davejonescue]

Totally understand. You are totally giving me the motivation to work on that idea! I work in software development and I think that would be a very useful tool for the kingdom of God. Thank you for the inspiration. I hope to start on this soon and maybe in the future, the tool can reach a level of capability that can speed up your process!
Also, praise God for your work! I pray He blesses it mightily!

Also, would you happen to know where I can get a hold of some docs like those you are trying to transcribe? What might be most helpful is if you know where I can get the old document and the updated one (to be the source of truth to compare the transcription to).

That awesome. Keep us posted, as it would be a very beneficial tool for Gods glory.

 

[Reformed Covenanter]

Musculus' "Common Places"

Am I correct in saying that this work is not available on EEBO-TCP, as I have never been able to find it upon searching for it?

 

[davejonescue]

Am I correct in saying that this work is not available on EEBO-TCP, as I have never been able to find it upon searching for it?

You are correct. I got interested after stumbling upon what was known as the practice of "Common Places." EEBO-TCP transcribed Vermigli's, but not Musculus'. Looking around and seeing he was an important Reformer, and that his Common Places are what appears to be his greatest work, it looks like a really good work to get into text for eBook distro.

Here it is in facsimile: https://books.google.com/books?id=YEk7AQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
But I prefer this two-sided page edition myself: https://archive.org/details/WolfgangMusculusCommonPlaces/page/n3/mode/2up

 

[No Other Name]

the practice of "Common Places."

When you get a chance can you summarize in one phrase, what the the practice of "Common Places" is? Thanks

 

[davejonescue]

When you get a chance can you summarize in one phrase, what the the practice of "Common Places" is? Thanks

Here is a good article on the topic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace_book

 

[davejonescue]

Well, it looks like sometimes you have to buckle down and do things yourself. I looked at the snippet the sister sent me of her attempt at transcribing Musculus, and it is evident she does not quite understand the archaic language and is having a hard time with the font. So I have asked to cancel the order. I have already done the math so to speak. And if I pick up typing this out as a little side hobby each night, or at the beginning of the day, it is about 35-40 minutes of typing for a year. But this way I can have more certainty. I am not really concerned about the money, but of what I have been told this is an important text, and must be treated with upmost care; and it is hard for me to trust others to do that. So, if I can have patience, little by little I can get this thing typed out; Lord Willing.

I would ask that if anybody reads this, that they say a small prayer for God to guide my heart to complete this. I am very weak and feeble, but he can do anything; and though I would throw my hands up at this in my own strength, nothing is impossible for God.

 

[erickinho1bra]

Well, it looks like sometimes you have to buckle down and do things yourself. I looked at the snippet the sister sent me of her attempt at transcribing Musculus, and it is evident she does not quite understand the archaic language and is having a hard time with the font. So I have asked to cancel the order. I have already done the math so to speak. And if I pick up typing this out as a little side hobby each night, or at the beginning of the day, it is about 35-40 minutes of typing for a year. But this way I can have more certainty. I am not really concerned about the money, but of what I have been told this is an important text, and must be treated with upmost care; and it is hard for me to trust others to do that. So, if I can have patience, little by little I can get this thing typed out; Lord Willing.

I would ask that if anybody reads this, that they say a small prayer for God to guide my heart to complete this. I am very weak and feeble, but he can do anything; and though I would throw my hands up at this in my own strength, nothing is impossible for God.

Prayed for you this morning brother!

Also, I'd like to attempt to help you with this with the aid of ChatGPT (and still double-check the work manually, of course). Would you be interested in sending me either 1-month's worth of pages (or some amount less than that, if you will) as a sort of internship/trial/probationary period? You could double-check my work to make sure it meets the mark.

 

[davejonescue]

Prayed for you this morning brother!

Also, I'd like to attempt to help you with this with the aid of ChatGPT (and still double-check the work manually, of course). Would you be interested in sending me either 1-month's worth of pages (or some amount less than that, if you will) as a sort of internship/trial/probationary period? You could double-check my work to make sure it meets the mark.

Hey.
You can find the file for free access on Archive. Feel free to download and transcribe at will. But, I wouldnt pay anybody to use ChatGPT to do it. It is really just something that is in my hands; either I do the little 40 minutes of typing a day, or I dont, and it will continue to sit in obscurity. You have to understand brother, at least this is the way I look at it, is there there are a lot of people in the Reformed camp far more financially blessed than I am. We have to sit back, and think, why people like RHB, Banner, SDG, and the list can go on regarding producers of Reformed literature, with all of their publishing power; or even private Christians, some who have $10,000's or even millions to spare; have not simply hired someone to transcribe it or have transcribed it themselves? There must be a reason for it, and sometimes there is wisdom to behold not only what has been done, but what hasn't.

I aint going to push the issue. I have 1,000's of Puritan books I have the pleasure of focusing on, and maybe, I have to settle in and realize that is my niche for the moment. Maybe I have to narrow my focus. There are millions of Reformed people, out of those, I am sure some have time or finances to spare. As the Lord can raise the dead, so too can he raise a stone to praise him, and in the same way, at any time he chooses, he can push someone and strengthen them to take on the challenge. I probably need to focus more on my lane, and leave this one to someone who wants to do it.