Text |Yuki.
Edit |Jing Yu.
In September this year, at the opening ceremony of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, 100 million digital torchbearers from around the world gathered in relay to light the Qianjiang Chaoyong Cauldron Tower. This is the first digital ignition in the history of the Asian Games, and it has also become a classic moment in the history of the Asian Olympics. The technology behind this digital ignition is the well-known Alipay.
As a leading third-party payment platform in China, Alipay has been providing more than 1 billion users and 80 million merchants with comprehensive payment services including barcode payment and face payment since 2004. Taking advantage of the technological advantages accumulated over the years, Alipay has brought more scientific and technological innovation to the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Including the first digital human ignition ceremony, Alipay achieved a total of five firsts in the Hangzhou Asian Games: the other four are the first one-stop digital viewing platform in the history of the Asian Games, the first mobile payment interconnection for the Asian Games, the first digital licensed goods and digital torch, and the first carbon-neutral Asian Games. This time it has all converged into a classic moment of the Asian Games.
However, these high-tech technologies are not only being used in high-end events such as the Asian Games, Alipay is introducing these technologies into the daily lives of the general public.
For example, the digital human technology behind the digital ignition of the Asian Games, Alipay is using it in the fields of medical care, government affairs, and e-commerce, to create more exclusive digital humans to serve the public;For example, in the AR interaction at the opening ceremony of the Asian Games, Alipay is using this AR technology for performances, film and television and other scenes, and helps people better scan codes in the real worldFor example, behind the promotion of mobile payment for the Asian Games, Alipay is helping Chinese people to leave and foreigners to achieve better mobile payment through apps and various foreign e-wallets.
On the stage of geek park if2024, Zhang Rui, senior technical expert of Alipay and technical director of Ant Asian Games Office, brought a speech on "How Technology Can Make Life More Beautiful". He believes that no matter how advanced technology is, only by serving more users and bringing more small beauty to people's lives will it burst out with greater value. Just like Alipay's vision, to bring small but beautiful changes to the world. He said.
This is the full text of the speech, which was compiled and published by Geek Park:
Zhang Rui, senior technical expert of Alipay and technical director of Ant Asian Games Office, Geek Park.
The main theme I want to share today is how technology can make life have more small beauty, and I mainly want to use the application of technology in the Asian Games to talk about how those seemingly unattainable technologies can enter our lives and bring more small beauty to our lives.
AI technology, especially large models, is evolving with each passing day, and it is indeed the key to changing many industries and solving problems, and everyone is looking forward to it. But I would like to say that solving problems is never a single technology, but a combination of multiple technologies to achieve better results. Moreover, the technology itself is actually meaningless, and it only makes sense for technology to solve problems.
No matter how advanced the technology is, how big the technology, I think it is more valuable to make it serve every user fairly. This is even more true for AI. I think the combination of AI and a variety of technologies will make it better serve the majority of users and bring more small benefits to everyone's lives.
Looking back at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, which just ended two months ago, it was a very great success. Whether it is providing various services for domestic and foreign audiences during the event, or the ignition of digital humans, or the AR interaction at the opening ceremony, and the convenient cross-border mobile payment, they are all full of technology. I think it is precisely because of the innovation and application of many technologies in the Asian Games, which everyone can participate in, that the Asian Games have received so much good feedback.
As a partner of the Hangzhou Asian Games, Alipay has helped the Hangzhou Asian Games achieve five firsts through digital technology:
First, Alipay's mini program provides an intelligent engine for the smart Asian Games, creating the first one-stop digital viewing platform in the history of the Asian Games. Secondly, during the event, all audiences at home and abroad can solve all services such as food, accommodation, travel and shopping through the Asian Games Smart One-stop Pass, without the need for multiple apps to complete it like the previous Asian Games. The highest figure during our event was that more than 100 million people used the Smart Asian Games One Pass in a single day.
Second, Alipay carried the first 100-million-level digital torchbearer relay event in history through its self-developed digital human technology and Web3D interactive engine, and helped the first digital human ignition ceremony in the history of the Asian Games.
Third, China's mobile payment has become the common language in Asia, helping the Hangzhou Asian Games to become the first Asian Games with mobile payment interconnection.
Fourth, AntChain helps create the first digital licensed product and digital torch in history, which can permanently retain your digital memory of the Asian Games.
Finally, more than 100 million people participated in the 1kg per person charity activity through Ant Forest, helping the Hangzhou Asian Games become the first carbon-neutral Asian Games.
These five firsts also created three iconic moments of the Asian Games: the familiar hundreds of millions of digital torchbearers lighting the Asian Games torch, the participation of spectators at the opening ceremony in AI interactive activities, and convenient and secure cross-border mobile payments.
Zhang Rui introduced Alipay's five firsts at the Asian Games Geek Park.
Let's start with the digital ignition ceremony, which shows the widest, largest and longest-lasting online torch relay in the history of the Asian Games, and how they ended up lighting our cauldron tower. Before the opening ceremony, each digital torchbearer passed through the portal, and everyone gathered together to form a super digital torchbearer, crossing the Qiantang River and running into the stadium of Hangzhou Big Lotus. Finally, the cauldron was lit with our real torchbearers on-site and offline.
It's still very impressive to look at the effect now, especially in the field. I think the reason for such a shocking effect is mainly the support of Alipay's self-developed data human technology system, which mainly includes modeling, rendering, driving engine and other technologies. In order for everyone to become a digital torchbearer, we have invested a lot in technology and optimized to ensure that it can run smoothly even on mobile phones eight years ago, so that everyone can participate is no longer just a slogan.
This is also the first ignition ceremony in the history of mankind to integrate digital and real, and it is also the first in various international competitions. The application of digital human technology at the Asian Games, I don't think it's for coolness, it's not a face project, and it's not a one-shot deal. After the end of the Asian Games, the same digital human technology of the Asian Games has been applied in many fields and entered everyone's life.
For example, in the medical field, the Zhejiang Health Commission has jointly launched the country's first digital health person to accompany Alipay, he can communicate and interact with patients in real time, provide guidance, take numbers, sign in, view reports, and even medical insurance payment and other services, which can provide patients with full companionship in the process of medical treatment, and are also friendly to many elderly people and people with disabilities.
At present, it has been applied in more than 30 hospitals in Zhejiang Province, such as the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine and Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital.
In the field of government affairs, Jiangxi's government service platform Ganfutong used Alipay's digital human technology to create the country's first government service person Xiaoganshi. Users in Jiangxi can get Xiaoganshi through a series of smart services, which greatly improves the efficiency of everyone's work.
Finally, in the field of e-commerce, KFC also applied Alipay's digital human technology to create a digital human anchor Lingfeng. Everyone saw the live broadcast screen of the digital human Lingfeng bringing goods, which looks very similar to the real person, but it is actually a digital person, but it is more realistic.
The application of Alipay's digital human technology in the fields of medical care, government affairs, and e-commerce. Alipay.
In order to support the faster and better implementation of these scenarios, Alipay's digital human technology has actually made the following characteristics:
The first level is highly adaptable rendering capabilities, and Alipay can support 97% of mobile phones through its self-developed Web3D interactive engine. The second is low-cost modeling, based on the parameterized model of the face, we can make an innovative image on a daily basis, whereas the traditional one may take a month for an innovative image. The third is generative drive, which can greatly improve the efficiency and reduce the cost of motion design based on motion capture and AI-based motion generation. Finally, intelligent delivery, based on our pre-trained voice cloning technology, can generate personalized timbre based on one-minute speech, which is much more efficient than traditional methods.
I think with the blessing of AI technology, digital humans will become more vivid, more polite, and warmer in the future, and will also enter the ordinary life of each of us.
In addition to the classic moment of digital human ignition, there is also a second classic moment of the Asian Games, which is the AR interaction at the opening ceremony. A few months before the opening ceremony, Alipay has been talking with the director team of the opening ceremony and the Asian organizing committee about how to use digital technology to bring the audience a more three-dimensional sense of performance interaction.
We talked a lot about the plan, and the AR interactive solution at the opening ceremony almost died because there were a lot of technical difficulties to solve. But we didn't give up until we solved all the technical problems and finally settled on the solution.
The audience at the opening ceremony can participate in the performance more immersively through the three theme links of Alipay AR scanning, stage identification, and cooperation with the opening ceremony. You can also fly wishing lanterns, send star films, and summon the mascot of the Asian Games in the digital world, and interact with them to make good memories.
Through the interaction**, you can see that the background of the mobile phone and the scene is very integrated. You can use AR interaction on your phone to fly the wishing lantern, and when you see the wishing lantern in the sky, it will be difficult for you to distinguish whether it is real or fake.
Alipay's AR technology application at the Asian Games. Alipay.
Behind this, Alipay's technical team has achieved a film-level effect by integrating artificial intelligence, spatial computing and 3D rendering technologies, and relying on the self-developed Web3D interactive engine.
The integration of AR+AI technology is refreshing, in fact, at the opening ceremony held at the Hangzhou Big Lotus Stadium, there are 360-degree three-story stands, ever-changing lighting, and the performance of the actors changing all the time, and the whole environment is still very complicated. It is a very big challenge to make every audience member be able to identify and participate in AR interaction through Alipay's scanning of the main stage.
To this end, we divided the opening ceremony into 24 blocks and 216 points, collected ** in various environments, and cut it into 400,000 frames of ** data, and handed it over to AI algorithms for training, and finally we achieved a 95% recognition success rate, ensuring that all audiences on the scene can participate in AR interaction.
I think advanced technology isn't just used to solve these big scenarios. After the end of the Asian Games in Hangzhou, we were contacted by a performance company, hoping to use this technology in many concerts, such as concerts. I think one day in the future. When you go to a concert again, you can have richer and more diverse interactions on your mobile phone by scanning the stage or by scanning your idols, leaving a good memory.
There are many other forms of entertainment and more entertainment around ordinary people, including movies and TV series. In the future, with the blessing of AI technology, there may be a variety of innovative content in mobile phones.
In fact, whether it is big technology or advanced technology, it is not only for these grand scenes, such as the Asian Games or performances. How to make them serve various small and micro individuals is also something that Alipay is promoting. We want big technology to solve the small problems around each of our users and bring some small beauty to the lives of the general public. This is also what we have always pursued.
For example, we often encounter in our lives that we scan the code to pay in the parking lot, because the code may be far away and the angle may not be good, and we may have to go back and forth several times to scan the code successfully. Or when you go to mom-and-pop shops and street stalls to shop, their codes are worn out for a long time, after wind and rain, they can't see clearly, and it is difficult to scan the code to identify successfully.
In fact, in order to solve these problems, our AI code scanning technology has long been applied to the payment scenarios that we are all Xi to. We combine technologies such as AR, image recognition and enhancement, and environmental awareness to continuously optimize QR code payment scenarios. This allows us to scan the code to identify successfully, whether it is a code at a distance of 3 meters, or a code with a defaced area of 30%, or even a code in a dark light environment or a multi-code environment, and finally we can achieve a 95% success rate.
Over the years, Alipay has been using some technological innovations and applications to find ways to solve problems in all aspects of everyone's life. This is also the original mission that Alipay has always adhered to since its inception, and it is our original intention to serve every customer well.
In addition to these two classic moments, digital human ignition and on-site AR interaction, we also have a third classic moment of the Asian Games, which is the convenient cross-border mobile payment experience.
You may have Xi mobile payment, I think this is still thanks to the country's support for mobile payment. In fact, the experience of Chinese in mobile payment is far ahead of foreign countries, but for many foreign tourists, they are still very unfamiliar. After they come to China, many times they are still Xi to paying with cash or card, especially during the Asian Games, there are many foreign spectators or tourists coming to China, and it is equally important to provide them with convenient and secure mobile payment.
Today, Alipay has also solved this problem. It can be seen that on the left is the scene of foreign tourists using Alipay to buy Hangzhou's famous snack scallion stewed in Hangzhou, and on the right is the scene of Chinese tourists using Alipay to shop in Bangkok, Thailand.
Foreign tourists use Alipay to buy scallion stews in Hangzhou, and Chinese tourists use Alipay to buy snacks in Bangkok. Image source |Alipay.
This year, the international tourism market has recovered actively, with more and more foreign tourists entering the country. Providing them with a convenient and secure mobile payment experience has become critical. With the support of the Bank of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, Alipay, together with partners such as Bank of China and NetUnion, has realized the realization of providing a convenient and secure payment experience for international users through these two methods.
The first solution is that users can directly **Alipay APP and bind overseas bank cards. The second option is that users can directly use e-wallets outside of foreign countries. Alipay can now support binding international mainstream overseas bank cards, including VISA, MST (Mastercard) can be used, users who have tied overseas bank cards, and can also use Alipay in scenarios including **shopping, public transportation, catering, entertainment, etc.
In addition, with the help of Ant Group's Alipay+ digital payment solution, wallets in Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia and other countries have also joined. Users in these countries can also use their local e-wallets to complete the payment. For example, users in Thailand can use their home country's electronic payment app TrueMoney to scan Alipay*** to complete the payment. In fact, this set of solutions also promotes the interconnection of mobile payments around the world.
Alipay, as the mobile representative of China's payment, has always maintained a leading position in several aspects: in China, we have the world's leading payment success rate, and we have achieved 998%；For different customers in China and customers in different industries, we have been charging 0% to 06% payout rate. Especially for public welfare, education and government affairs, we have been implementing zero rates. For comparison, our average payment rate for overseas credit cards is 2% to 3%, which is more than 4 times higher than in China.
From Alipay to mobile payment in Asia, scanning code payment has become a common language, whether it is Chinese people leaving the country or foreigners entering the country, you can use Alipay to travel all over the world.
Zhang Rui introduced the overseas e-wallet that Alipay can directly use Geek Park.
This is the experience of the secretary general of the Olympic Committee of the Maldives who came to Hangzhou to use Alipay during the Asian Games. I think this kind of satisfaction of users is actually the greatest affirmation of us. We will continue to strengthen close collaboration with domestic and foreign partners, and strive to provide safe and convenient mobile payment services for domestic and foreign users.
With the development of AI technology and IoT technology, as well as the continuous improvement of IoT infrastructure, I think now our human-computer interaction is changing dramatically, and the way of payment will also change even more. Payments will also be integrated into more smart devices, not just on mobile phones, including your smart wearables, and even your smart car, your smart speakers at home, and even refrigerators.
All technologies are blooming, but what can be the backing of the rapid development of this technology?I think it's security, and we need more secure payment guarantees.
On March 2 this year, Alipay launched a new payment plan, and we have joined forces with many chip manufacturers to build a secure payment capability based on chips, as the name suggests, the payment capability of Alipay's core application is built into the chip, providing a hardware-level secure and credible operating environment for payment applications, so as to protect our users' core payment assets and related data, and will not be cloned or stolen.
You can imagine that one day in the future, after your smart refrigerator is integrated with AI technology and has a secure payment core guarantee, you can let it generate your recipes according to your taste or your medical examination report, and it is possible for it to buy food and deliver it to your home according to your recipes.
I think the innovative application of Alipay's various technologies in the Asian Games, whether it is digital human, AI or payment, and the combination with AI, will be more widely used in all walks of life and various scenarios, and enter your life.
With the rapid progress of science and technology, Alipay will continue to practice the concept of fair, inclusive and green development of science and technology, and work together with all friends to move forward, let us use the power of science and technology to help the development of society, and add more small beauty to everyone's life. Just like Alipay's vision, to bring small but beautiful changes to the world.