As fireworks lit up the stadium at the opening of the 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegalese musicians struck their drums. On a screen above them, 100 young people from around the world appeared to play along. Each had submitted a photograph, which Alibaba transformed into a one-minute performance using its Wan 3.0 video generation model.
Dakar, Senegal’s capital on Africa’s western coast, is hosting the continent’s first Olympic sporting event, 130 years after the inaugural modern Olympic Games in 1896. Tens of thousands of spectators witnessed Alibaba’s technology on the stadium screen, but another contribution was less visible. The cloud infrastructure supporting ticket sales and admission is expected to remain in Senegal long after the athletes leave.
In Wolof, teranga refers to the generosity and hospitality extended to guests. The word gives the Dakar Games’ official song its name. At celebrations and receptions across Senegal, musicians play the sabar, a traditional drum struck with one hand and a wooden stick held in the other.
Alibaba and the organizing committee drew on this tradition for the opening ceremony. According to the organizers, the young people featured in the video were participants in the Dakar 2026 Learning Academy. Wan 3.0 preserved their likenesses while depicting them in T-shirts bearing the green, yellow, and red of Senegal’s flag. Musicians in the stadium provided live accompaniment.
Visitors can experience the technology themselves at “The Teranga Beat,” a 75-square-meter interactive installation. They pick up a traditional drumstick and strike a drum in front of a screen, activating an artificial intelligence assistant that speaks English and French. After entering their name and posing for a photograph, they follow a short rhythm game.
During the roughly dozen seconds it takes to complete the game, Wan generates a video depicting the visitor drumming in traditional Senegalese attire. The scenes feature locations and cultural landmarks, including the opening ceremony plaza, a painted wooden boat, and a baobab tree.
Each visitor receives a printed “Beat Card” with a QR code on the back. Scanning it allows them to save their video or send their digital avatar to a giant drum-shaped screen in the plaza, where it can appear alongside other visitors’ avatars.
Visitors and local residents can also ask questions about competition schedules and Senegalese culture. A service powered by Alibaba’s Qwen models provides answers in English and French throughout the Games.
Beyond these experiences, Alibaba Cloud has been involved in building the digital infrastructure needed to support the 14-day event. With many systems having to be developed from scratch, the company said it deployed a private cloud in Dakar using its Apsara Stack platform.
The ticketing system supports online sales and admission for more than one million tickets across seven venues and the festival site. According to 36Kr, staff have access to more than 100 handheld scanners to manage entry. Some competitions, including road cycling and triathlon, are open to spectators free of charge.
Digital infrastructure installed for major sporting events is often dismantled or left underused after the closing ceremony. Alibaba Cloud, however, designed its Dakar installation to be transferred to Senegalese government authorities.
The infrastructure is expected to serve as a national cloud platform for government services and other public projects. Over time, it could also provide computing capacity to neighboring West African countries, extending its technological legacy beyond the event.
KrASIA features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This article was written by Xiao Xi for 36Kr.