Alibaba Cloud Enhances Paris 2024 Olympics Viewing Experience with Cloud Technologies | 12.08.24

Advanced cloud-based initiatives help enhance the spectator experience and aid in sustainability planning for future host cities

PARIS, FRANCE – Media OutReach Newswire – August 12, 2024 – Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, has leveraged the power of its cloud technologies to drive multiple initiatives during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (Paris 2024). These efforts were made to empower media professionals in their coverage of the Games, while also increasing the engagement of global sports fans through a range of innovative applications.

“Alibaba plays a vital role in supporting technology during the Olympic Games, significantly increasing the efficiency and sustainability of the Olympic Games. Our partnership also extends beyond the Olympic Games, with Alibaba playing a defining role in our Olympic AI Agenda, helping us harness the great potential of AI in a responsible manner. All these examples highlight how Alibaba is the perfect partner when it comes to shaping our digital future,” said Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Enriching media asset management with a deep-learning archiving solution

Alibaba Cloud has partnered with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to create a Media Archiving AI Solution. This cloud-based solution provides enhanced visual search, automatic multimedia content categorization, and video highlight production via AI-powered media asset management services.

The IOC Media Archiving AI solution marks a major breakthrough in sports media archiving. The solution’s automatic generation of video highlights, powered by Alibaba Cloud’s visual AI, will identify and compile memorable moments from the boxing and archery competitions at Paris 2024. This feature will help media professionals with their video stories and enrich the viewing experience of the Games for a global audience.

In addition, Alibaba Cloud’s patented AI algorithms streamline the indexing and categorization of the Olympic Games’ decades-old audiovisual and photo collections, making the Olympic Archives more searchable and improving content discoverability while optimizing media asset management workflows.

“We are pleased to support the IOC’s AI Agenda, which was launched in April this year,” said Selina Yuan, President of International Business, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence“Our cloud-based AI initiatives are designed to transform the experience for media professionals and global viewers of the Olympic Games. We remain committed to delivering our innovations that make the Olympic Games more efficient, engaging, sustainable and inclusive for all stakeholders.”

Debut of Smart Virtual Boxing on Alibaba Wonder Avenue

At Alibaba Wonder Avenue (AWA), Alibaba Cloud also debuted its Smart Virtual Boxing project. Alibaba Cloud’s proprietary LLM Qwen was applied to enable analysis of each player’s movements and performance during the Virtual Boxing match, with real-time commentary in both English and French on each player’s approach and predicted their performance in the next round, enriching the spectator experience.

“Virtual sports are growing in popularity worldwide, increasing accessibility and encouraging greater diversity in sports participation,” Yuan added“We aim to extend the benefits of innovative technologies to both traditional sports and e-sports disciplines.”

Accentuate key game moments with 360 degree slow motion RepetitionS

During Paris 2024, Multi-Camera Replay Systems from OBS Cloud, a partnership between Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) and Alibaba Cloud, delivered 360-degree, frame-freeze slow-motion replays. The footage was sent to the cloud, where Alibaba Cloud’s AI-driven computing capabilities enabled live spatial reconstruction and real-time 3D rendering before being shared as replays, allowing for a deeper understanding of key match moments and made available on OBS’s Content+ platform for comprehensive media analysis to all Media Rights-Holders (MRHs).

During Paris 2024, the systems produced and delivered thousands of replay clips, covering a range of sports including basketball, gymnastics, tennis, beach volleyball and rugby sevens. The Multi-Camera Replay Systems are part of the recently launched OBS Cloud 3.0, which was used as the primary method of distributing remote content in support of MRH’s Olympic Games broadcasts, including the spectacular Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony, which attracts tens of millions of viewers worldwide.

“Technologies like Alibaba Cloud’s technologies help us tell the stories of the world’s best athletes, and also the stories of the world coming together in ways that are more exciting and inspiring. Partners like Alibaba who help us bring this dream to life are incredibly valuable to us,” said Yiannis Exarchos, CEO of OBS.

Cloud Memento improves audience engagement with animated videos

To create a more entertaining and engaging spectator experience, Alibaba Cloud unveiled Cloud Memento, an innovative tool that transforms static images of competitors into immersive motion videos using AI technology. Olympic fans had the chance to experience this transformative technology first-hand at three iconic locations: the Eiffel Tower Stadium, the Champs De Mars Arena and the Invalides.

Alibaba Cloud unveiled Cloud Memento at Paris 2024

In addition to cheering on their favorite athletes from the sidelines, spectators could take home a video of themselves competing in Olympic Games sports such as archery, beach volleyball, judo and wrestling, created by the latest intelligent cloud-based innovation via Cloud Memento. The videos also featured landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower using cloud-based smart technology that converts 2D snapshots into dynamic animated videos, showcasing complex sports movements with remarkable consistency and continuity.

Coloring ancient Olympic archive images

Alibaba Cloud helped restore and colorize Olympic archive footage from the 1924 Paris Olympics, allowing modern audiences to experience these iconic moments in enhanced viewing quality and vibrant colors. Alibaba Cloud also used its colorization technology to produce “To the Greatness of Her,” an 8-minute short film highlighting the evolution of gender equality in sports. Featuring restored and colorized photos of celebrated female athletes, the film was shown at the Alibaba Evening in Paris.

Sustainability solution helps minimize energy waste during games

In addition, Alibaba Cloud supported the IOC in implementing its data-driven sustainability solution – Energy Expert – to measure and analyze electricity consumption at competition venues during Paris 2024. Based on Alibaba Cloud’s integrated cloud-based intelligence and deep learning-based AI models, Energy Expert delivered accurate analytics to produce venue-specific forecasts and recommendations, such as optimizing power demand to minimize power waste for future Games.

Hashtag: #Alibaba #Paris2024

The publisher is solely responsible for the content of this communication.

News Source: Alibaba Cloud