Alibaba Group, a global e-commerce and technology leader, recently premiered a short film titled “To the Greatness of HER” in Paris, celebrating the achievements of female athletes at the Olympic Games.
The film, presented during the Alibaba Evening in line with the Olympic Games Paris 2024, uses Alibaba Cloud’s AI technology to restore and colorize historical images, highlighting the progress of gender equality in sports since the 19th century.
The 8-minute film showcases the evolution of women’s participation in the Olympics, starting from the Paris 1900 Games, where women first competed, to the present day. By using advanced artificial intelligence (AI) models, the film brings vintage photographs of female athletes to life, allowing viewers to experience these historical moments in full color.
“To the Greatness of HER highlights the great progress of women in sports through the course of history,” said Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
He emphasized the importance of gender equality in sports, noting that the IOC has made significant strides in this area, achieving a 50% female participation rate at the current Paris 2024 Games.
The film features three prominent female athletes: Zhang Shan from China, Kathrine Switzer from the United States, and Suzanne Lenglen from France. Their stories are brought to life through AI-enhanced images, demonstrating the impact of these women on the history of sports. Alibaba’s use of cloud-based AI technologies allowed for the restoration of old photographs from historical archives, enhancing image resolution and colorizing grayscale images with vibrant colors.
“Alibaba is proud to collaborate closely with the IOC to champion inclusivity and equity, core values that Alibaba firmly upholds,” said Chris Tung, president of Alibaba Group, Strategic Development.
Image restoration
He further emphasized that the project exemplifies how technology can be used to promote the values of diversity and equality.
Alibaba Cloud also partnered with the IOC to transform sports archiving. By utilizing its deep learning models, Alibaba Cloud restored and colorized selected Olympic archive footage from the Paris 1924 Games. The technology employed includes imperfection detection and correction for greyscale films, noise reduction, and advanced video colorization models to ensure consistent color fidelity across the footage.
The film “To the Greatness of HER” and Alibaba’s ongoing efforts demonstrate the potential of technology to not only preserve history but also to promote social values like gender equality on a global stage.
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