Artificial intelligence has evolved from background technology to essential Olympic infrastructure at Milano Cortina 2026, where AI systems reconstruct ski jumps in 15 seconds, track figure skaters with 8K precision, manage snowmaking on warming Alpine slopes, and answer fan questions through the first Olympic large language model system.
The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, officially the XXV Winter Olympic Games, opened on 6 February 2026, providing a real time demonstration of how AI is reshaping winter sports competition. Spread across 15 venues in northern Italy, from the urban landscapes of Milan to the dramatic peaks of the Dolomites, these Games represent what organizers are calling the transition from Cloud Olympics toward Intelligent Olympics.
Kirsty Coventry, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said at the opening of Alibaba’s Wonder on Ice showcase in Milan’s Piazza del Castello that with the power of AI, we are moving from Cloud Olympics toward Intelligent Olympics, as AI helps us work better, make smarter decisions, and connect more meaningfully.
For the first time in Olympic history, Milano Cortina 2026 has introduced a large language model system powered by Alibaba’s Qwen models. The initiative, known as Olympic AI Assistants, provides multilingual conversational support and real time event information, allowing fans to access official Olympic Games content through a chat based interface. This marks the first use of large language model (LLM) technology at the Olympics, reflecting what industry observers describe as an Olympic generative pre trained transformer (GPT) that delivers verified, real time results, rules and explanations.
The most visually striking AI application at Milano Cortina 2026 is Alibaba Cloud’s upgraded Real Time 360 Degree Replay system. The technology uses AI algorithms to separate athletes from complex backgrounds such as snow and ice, enabling three dimensional reconstructions of key moments in 15 to 20 seconds, fast enough for live broadcast use. The system is being deployed across 17 sports and disciplines, including ice hockey, freestyle skiing, figure skating and ski jumping.
Figure skating, the Winter Olympics’ biggest television draw, has received a substantial technological upgrade. Fourteen 8K resolution cameras positioned around the rink capture every skater’s movement, while AI processes the data to track trajectory, position and movement across all three axes. Alain Zobrist, Chief Executive Officer of Swiss Timing, explained that proprietary software interprets the images and visualizes athlete movement in a three dimensional model, with AI processing the data to track trajectory, position and movement across all three axes.
The system measures jump heights, air times and landing speeds in real time, producing heat maps and graphic overlays that break down each program. Zobrist explained that the time it takes to measure the data until showing a matrix on television with a graphic needs to take less than one tenth of a second.
Perhaps nowhere is AI’s practical value more evident than in managing Milano Cortina’s most persistent challenge, which is unpredictable weather. Climate Central reports that February temperatures in Cortina d’Ampezzo have warmed 6.4 degrees Fahrenheit since the town first hosted the Winter Olympics in 1956, with long range forecasts predicting a 50 to 60 percent chance of above average temperatures. To compensate, organizers are relying on advanced snowmaking infrastructure that combines weather forecasts, sensors and global positioning system (GPS) based monitoring to manage snow production and placement.
Milano Cortina 2026 is producing more than 5,000 short form digital assets, including behind the scenes footage, highlights and emotional reactions, distributed through Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) Content Plus, a cloud based platform powered by Alibaba Cloud. Building on innovations introduced at Paris 2024, Alibaba’s support of Milano Cortina 2026 includes cloud powered broadcasting solutions to improve efficiency and reduce carbon footprint, AI enhanced 360 degree replays to elevate the viewing experience, and AI powered sustainability tools enabling smarter energy and carbon management across venues.
The technological transformation began earlier. When the IOC launched the Olympic AI Agenda in April 2024, President Thomas Bach stated that our continued success depends on how we embrace the ever accelerating development of digital technology, and in particular Artificial Intelligence. This makes the Olympic Agenda 2020 imperative change or be changed even more urgent.
The Olympic AI Agenda is the third in a trilogy of strategy documents launched under the leadership of IOC President Thomas Bach, and presents the envisioned impact that artificial intelligence can deliver for sport. It follows Olympic Agenda 2020, launched in December 2014, and Olympic Agenda 2020 Plus Five, launched in March 2021.
Perhaps the most revolutionary application of AI at the Olympics is its potential to democratize athletic opportunity. In Senegal, more than 1,000 young people participated in Intel’s AI powered talent identification system, a custom built technology that analyzes body measurements, reaction times and physical capabilities to determine which of 12 sports a participant is best suited for. The results were striking, with 48 high performers identified and included in a program run by the Senegalese National Olympic Committee.
The Wonder on Ice showcase also marked the unveiling of the results of the Alibaba Cloud Artificial Intelligence Generated Content (AIGC) Championship at Milano Cortina 2026, an AI powered fan engagement initiative developed in partnership with the IOC and the Milano Cortina 2026 Organising Committee. A selection of 100 entries will be projected onto the showcase’s snow globe pavilion throughout the Games, with the collection becoming the first AI generated artworks to be acquired by the Olympic Museum.
As the Olympic Movement enters this new era, with Milano Cortina 2026 demonstrating AI’s transformative power in real time across the Italian Alps, one thing is clear. Artificial intelligence is no longer a supporting player. It is fundamentally reshaping how athletes train, how competitions are judged, how fans experience the Games, and perhaps most importantly, who gets the opportunity to compete on the world’s greatest sporting stage.
