Alibaba Launches “Wonder on Ice”: AI-Powered Immersive Experience at Milan’s Sforza Castle for Milano Cortina 2026
Alibaba Group has unveiled “Alibaba Wonder on Ice” (AWI), a groundbreaking interactive public installation in Milan’s historic Piazza del Castello Sforzesco. This showcase blends artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and virtual retail to preview innovative experiences planned for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
Located against the iconic Sforza Castle and near the bustling Via Dante, the installation transforms a famous public space into a fusion of culture, commerce, and technology. It demonstrates how AI can create dynamic, personalized digital retail moments that adapt to individual visitors.
Joe Tsai, Chairman of Alibaba Group, emphasized the shared vision with the International Olympic Committee: technology should make the Olympic Games more exciting, accessible, sustainable, and connected. He highlighted the shift from “Cloud Olympics” to “Intelligent Olympics”, where AI enables smarter decisions and deeper connections.
Kirsty Coventry, President of the IOC, praised the nine-year partnership as a key driver of technological transformation in Olympic history. She noted that Milano Cortina 2026 advances cloud-based, AI-enabled broadcasting and operations, setting new standards for efficiency, sustainability, and global engagement.
A Personalized AI-Guided Journey Visitors begin by sharing preferences, such as their favorite winter sport from Milano Cortina 2026, with an AI agent. They can also opt for a photo to create a real-time digital avatar. The AI then serves as a virtual stylist, recommending clothing, fragrances, and makeup based on inputs. Selections evolve the experience in real time, moving beyond traditional catalogs to fully adaptive interactions. The journey ends with a personalized AI-generated video, placing the visitor’s avatar in a digital gala.
The installation runs on Alibaba’s cutting-edge tools, including the Qwen3 series of large language and vision models, the Wan 2.2 image-to-video generation model, Taobao Vision’s immersive shopping solution, and Alibaba Cloud’s global infrastructure.
Ice- and Light-Inspired Architecture The 40-meter setup features two main elements. The Snow Globe acts as an interactive daytime pavilion and becomes a projection surface for AI visuals at night. The Crystalized Skirt Building draws from frost and snowflake geometry to host the core AI-powered retail experience. Built with recyclable materials, the design ensures zero permanent impact on the historic site.
AWI opens to the public from February 7-22, 2026 during the Olympic Winter Games, and March 6-15, 2026 during the Paralympic Winter Games.
First AI-Generated Olympic Fan Art Collection The launch also revealed results from the Alibaba Cloud AIGC Championship @ Milano Cortina 2026, a pioneering fan initiative with the IOC, Olympic Museum, and Milano Cortina 2026 Organizing Committee. Fans worldwide used Alibaba’s Wan video models to create original artworks inspired by figure skating, short track speed skating, alpine skiing, and snowboarding. The top 100 videos display on the Snow Globe surface; this marks the first AI-generated artworks featured by the Olympic Museum in Lausanne. Ten creators receive in-person tickets to the Games.
“Alibaba Wonder on Ice” encourages fans to actively participate in the Olympic Movement, using AI to express their vibe and step into the Games like never before.
