Chinese tech giant pays tribute to female Olympians with AI-powered archive restoration

Chinese tech giant Alibaba has restored archives celebrating women who made Olympic history, just as the 2024 Paris Olympics achieves a milestone of gender parity among participants.

For the first time in its 128-year history, the Olympic Games will achieve gender parity, with equal numbers of male and female athletes competing.

It has been a long journey to reach this milestone, and the 2024 Paris Olympics marks a significant chapter in the increasing participation and recognition of women in sport.

Women first stepped onto the Olympic stage in Paris in the 1900s, making up just 2.2 percent of the athletes. By the 1924 Paris Games, their representation had only slightly increased to 4.4 percent.

The International Olympic Committee's (IOC) push for gender equality has led to a dramatic increase in the participation of female athletes.

Nawal El Moutawakel, a trailblazer as a former 400-meter hurdles champion and one of only two female vice presidents of the IOC, shared her perspective.

"I'm sure with all these women that have been also elected today, as IOC members, will collectively work very hard and tirelessly to bring uplift women to a higher level," she said.

On Wednesday, Nawal El Moutawakel and Argentina's Gerardo Werthein were elected as IOC vice presidents. Their terms will begin on August 10, following the conclusion of the 142nd IOC Session, when the terms of John Coates and Ser Miang Ng end.

Women now make up 42.3 percent of IOC members, with 47 women among a total of 111.

To commemorate the achievement, the IOC has partnered with Chinese tech company Alibaba to use AI in bringing historic photographs of female Olympians to life.

At the Alibaba Evening event on Wednesday night, the company and the IOC jointly launched a short film titled "To the Greatness of HER." This eight-minute video pays tribute to the evolution of gender equality in sports since the 19th century and highlights the significant challenges faced by female athletes.

From being entirely shut out to fighting for inclusion and ultimately striving for equality, each generation of female Olympians has pushed boundaries and empowered the next.

The film features inspiring stories of three prominent female athletes, including Zhang Shan, who won a gold medal in the mixed-gender skeet shooting event at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. By reliving that moment, she hopes to encourage others to pursue their passions in sports.

"Although I didn't have the chance to compete in the Olympics again, I was delighted to see more female athletes getting opportunities. The number of women who could participate in shooting events at the Olympics increased from 12 to 32. As our civilization progresses, women definitely have their place in society and on the Olympic stage," she said.

Chinese tech giant pays tribute to female Olympians with AI-powered archive restoration

China’s first intelligent field plant phenotype precision identification platform went into operation recently in Sanya City, south China’s Hainan Province, which is a milestone in the country’s development of intelligent breeding.

The phenotype of a plant is a term used to describe observable characteristics of the plant, such as its appearance, and some inherent physiological characteristics, such as resistance to drought and diseases.

In an experimental field of the National Nanfan Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, a large piece of equipment is moving across the field. The equipment, called the field plant phenotype precision identification platform, can move according to the preset track and can be remotely controlled. While moving, the equipment can scan the plants with its six sensors, just like a CT machine for plants.

"The ultimate goal is to achieve high-throughput, large-scale, efficient and precise collection of germplasm resources, which can be four to five times higher than the efficiency of the traditional manual collection," said Jin Xiuliang, a researcher at the institute.

Although the equipment looks simple from the outside, it contains six high-precision image acquisition devices such as multi-spectral, thermal infrared, and chlorophyll fluorescence devices. Data can be collected at fixed times and points according to experimental needs, and the collection of a germplasm material can be completed within 30 seconds.

After the data collected through this platform is transmitted to the data analysis center, researchers can more quickly and accurately screen out germplasm resources with excellent traits, laying the foundation for subsequent crop breeding.

"The plant phenotype identification facility at the National Nanfan Research Institute is a milestone in the field of crop science in China. It can greatly enhance the independent innovation capabilities of germplasm innovation, gene mining, and variety breeding, and enhance the international competitiveness of China's seed industry," said Li Huihui, vice president of the institute.  

China makes major progress in smart crop breeding