Alibaba Group, a global leader in e-commerce and technology, recently premiered a short film in Paris titled “To the Greatness of HER,” celebrating the achievements of female athletes at the Olympic Games.
The film, presented as part of the Alibaba Evening during the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, uses Alibaba Cloud’s AI technology to restore and colorize historical images, highlighting the progress made in gender equality in sport since the 19th century.
The 8-minute film traces the evolution of women’s participation in the Olympic Games, from the 1900 Paris Games, when women first competed, to the present day. Using advanced artificial intelligence (AI) models, the film brings old photos of female athletes to life and allows viewers to experience these historic moments in color.
“To the Greatness of HER underlines the great progress made by women in sport throughout history,” said Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
He stressed the importance of gender equality in sport, noting that the IOC has made significant progress in this area, achieving a 50% female participation rate at the current 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
The film features three prominent female athletes: Zhang Shan from China, Kathrine Switzer from the US and Suzanne Lenglen from France. Their stories are brought to life through AI-enhanced images, showcasing the impact these women have had on the history of sport. Alibaba’s use of cloud-based AI technologies enabled the restoration of old photos from historical archives, improving image resolution and colorizing grayscale images with vibrant colors.
“Alibaba is proud to work closely with the IOC to promote inclusivity and equality – core values that Alibaba firmly stands for,” said Chris Tung, President of Strategic Development, Alibaba Group.
Image recovery
He further stressed that the project is an example of how technology can be used to promote the values of diversity and equality.
Alibaba Cloud also collaborated with the IOC to revolutionize sports event archiving. Using its deep learning models, Alibaba Cloud restored and colorized selected Olympic archive footage from the 1924 Paris Games. The technology used includes error detection and correction for grayscale films, noise reduction, and advanced video colorization models to ensure consistent color fidelity across all 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 promote social values such as gender equality on a global stage.
You might also like
