Worldwide Olympic Partner Alibaba has launched “Wonder on Ice,” an interactive public exhibit at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing to deliver an immersive fan experience. “Wonder on Ice” was officially inaugurated on February 7 during a ceremony in the presence of the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Kirsty Coventry, and the Chairman of Alibaba Group, Joe Tsai.
The installation, located in Milan’s Piazza del Castello, stands before the medieval Castello Sforzesco, transforming one of the city’s most renowned public spaces into a showcase of how digital technologies can produce customized virtual retail solutions. A snow globe-inspired pavilion provides visitors with an interactive AI-driven journey, offering a personalized virtual retail experience that is tailored to their individual interests and preferences.
The opening of the showcase marked the unveiling of the results of the Alibaba Cloud AIGC Championship @ Milano Cortina 2026, an AI-powered fan engagement project developed with the IOC and the Milano Cortina 2026 Organizing Committee. Fans worldwide used Alibaba’s AI video-generation tools to create winter sports-inspired artwork. A selection of 100 entries is being projected onto the showcase’s snow globe pavilion throughout the Games. This collection will also become the first AI-generated artworks to be acquired by the Olympic Museum.
Alibaba’s support of Milano Cortina 2026 includes cloud-powered broadcasting solutions, AI-enhanced 360-degree replays, and AI-powered sustainability tools that enable smarter energy and carbon management across venues. All these solutions use Alibaba’s AI models from its Qwen series.
