Microsoft is using artificial intelligence to help preserve the history of D-Day, 80 years after allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, and turned the tide of World War II.
“The Thread of Memory” is a new online and in-person interactive experience that uses AI to animate archival photos, create 3-D type effects, automatically generate captions, and geographically reposition photographs as close as possible to their current location in order to superimpose maps from 80 years ago onto those of today.
“This is history how everyone should experience it,” Microsoft President Brad Smith says in a video (below) detailing the initiative.
Visitors to the website can explore AI-generated content curated from thousands of historical images. A timeline of events links troop locations and operations to specific times of day. And an audio feature uses voices to share the memories of those who were in Normandy on June 6, 1944.
“Although physical evidence of D-Day remains, we’re losing eyewitness memories that connect us to one of history’s most important events,” Smith says in the video. “’The Thread of Memory’ uses AI to tell a human story of courage and sacrifice.”
Microsoft is partnering with the Taskforce of the 80th Anniversary of the Landings, Liberation of France, Victory, and Iconem on the project.
The first of three physical exhibits opens Wednesday in Normandy before traveling to Provence and Paris later this summer.
“With AI, we are always trying to create a better future,” says Microsoft Chief Data Scientist and AI for Good Lab Director Juan Lavista Ferres. “In this case, we are doing so by recreating the past … “
