In an era before cameras, people would hire painters to capture and leave their portraits, like vivid "photographs." Recently, someone used AI painting technology to successfully restore the image of Li Qingzhao, a poet blogger in the Northern Song Dynasty. The moment I saw her, I felt like I had experienced an encounter through time and space, making me feel like I was meeting an ancient person from another world.
I am a well-known poetry blogger in the Northern Song Dynasty, sapiosexual, and a typical ENFP (a type of personality type 16) - happy puppy personality..."
In the short video, the poet "Li Qingzhao" is wearing a Song Dynasty costume with a lively expression. He uses "trendy words" commonly used by young people today to introduce poems and his "circle of friends".
What is unexpected is that the creative team behind this AI character is not a "science and engineering man" but a group of liberal arts students. In 2023, Yang Yu, professor and doctoral supervisor of the Chinese Department of Central South University, and 15 teachers and students launched the "AILLM Do You Know?" "No" project hopes to use AI technology and expression methods that modern people like to hear and see to restore historical figures and spread traditional culture.
In October this year, the "Li Qingzhao @ Han Universe" series of AI short videos came out, constructing a "Li Qingzhao Universe" that includes poets, poems, times, and culture.
How do classical poetry and popular short videos, traditional culture and modern technology integrate? How can a group of Chinese teachers and students allow various poets to travel through thousands of years? Today's Women's Daily/Fengwang reporter will take you to find out.
AI and poetry may seem far apart, but for Yang Yu, who has been deeply involved in the study of Chinese classical literature for more than 20 years, it is another practice that revitalizes traditional poetry culture.
"I have been thinking about how to break down the barriers of disciplines and let poetry fly into more people's lives." Over the years, Yang Yu has made many attempts - exploring and practicing the integration of literature and bridging, and material disciplines, and later created He wrote a general course for undergraduates at Central South University called "Poetry Bridge"; worked with materials experts to compile "The Legend of Gold Powder - Powder Metallurgy and Human Civilization", and collaborated with physics experts to publish "The Story of Poetry"...
After trying again and again, Yang Yu realized a truth: the bold imagination of literature and the sublimation of humanistic feelings continue to guide the direction of scientific development, and science and technology also respond to and practice human beings' unbridled fantasies in a pragmatic and rigorous manner. "When China's long and profound traditional culture collides with the most cutting-edge technology, it will radiate great vitality."
As a result, Yang Yu turned his attention to AI and short videos - building an AI digital human of ancient poets and allowing traditional cultural classics to "go out" through the dissemination of short videos.
"Imagine that Li Bai, Du Fu, and Li Qingzhao are reborn in the digital world, telling their life stories, sharing creative experiences, and even composing poems." Yang Yu said that among the vast number of poets, the team first chose Li Qingzhao. "The acceptance of female images is higher than that of men to a certain extent. More importantly, her personal life and works are particularly in line with contemporary women's pursuit of self-independence."
If "building a poet's universe" is compared to a 100-meter runway, then it is certain that the characters are only standing on the starting line, and how to land and present them is the starting point. For this reason, Yang Yu and his students simply relaxed the restrictions and created different images according to the poet's age stage and life experience.
"Now we are in the early stages of production, and we are all performing the role of Li Qingzhao as a girl. The students also hired a young female classmate from school to play the role, providing material for the AI to show Li Qingzhao's freedom and freedom when he was young. status." Yang Yu said that after this, the team plans to continue to produce videos of AI poets of different ages to present as many classic poet images as possible.
At the beginning of this year, the "Do you know AILLM?" project was officially launched. The first hurdle Yang Yu and his students face is technology. At the beginning, the students tried almost all domestic and foreign AI software.
"These software's ability to understand the clothing, headwear, and images of ancient Chinese characters is very poor, and almost none of the images generated are correct." As a professional cultural research team, Yang Yu strives for excellence. Therefore, she specially invited professors from the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology to check the team's clothing, and designed clothing with AI images based on historical materials such as the poet's self-portrait.
In the AI short videos released by "Li Qingzhao @ Han Universe", there are holiday blessings from Li Qingzhao, Zhao Mingcheng and their "circle of friends", the hot topic on the Internet "Should we break up", and some exaggerated Internet topics Poetry and allusions told in language and skit-like lines.
"When creating, we put ourselves more in the perspective of the audience and think about what they need rather than what we can provide." Yang Yu was not satisfied with the first version of the script created by the students. "It's like giving lessons to the audience. So when the team is writing the script, I let them read it themselves first." After several polishings, the first self-introduction AI video was officially born.
In addition to telling poetry and allusions, Yang Yu and the students also hope to convey some positive values in the AI short video. For example, in the AI "Zhao Mingcheng" joke about "Drunk Flower Yin", the last paragraph resonated with many people in the comment area: "The most important thing is to support each other in marriage..." Yang Yu said: "Our content needs to comply with The public’s expectations for current growth, worries about career, worries about marriage, and various emotions during growth, they hope to find resonance and empathy in classical poetry and ancient poets.”
On the Douyin platform, the most popular series of AI short videos by "Li Qingzhao" has exceeded 67,000 views.
"Our expectation for it is that in the future this digital human will be able to cover all of Li Qingzhao's life stories and literary works, and users can interact and talk freely with it." Yang Yu introduced, project team technical consultant, Central South University alumnus, and big data expert Professor He Zeyi It also guides students in the optimization of digital poets. After the project went online, it also attracted the attention of the School of Computer Science at Central South University, and they are preparing to jointly carry out a series of breakthroughs and innovations in technology.
"This is a long job and may take half a year or even longer." Currently, a series of "Li Qingzhao" AI short videos are simultaneously released to overseas video platforms. "It can serve the dissemination of knowledge and can also help traditional Cultural intelligence goes overseas; you can go into campuses to guide students in poetry appreciation, and you can also go into museums and cities and states to maximize the value of cultural tourism! ”