With all the skepticism that artificial intelligence regularly encounters in the public eye, it is easy to overlook how it is increasingly becoming a creative tool in the hands of artists.

The most recent example is the creative use of a painting from the Song Dynasty that is more than 900 years old, created by the painter Zhang Zeduan and named “Along the River During the Qingming Festival” also known as the Qingming Scroll. It is a hidden object picture depicting everyday life in the city of Kaifeng, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, during the Chinese Qingming Festival, a day of remembrance for the dead.

As always, when we look at such a work of art hundreds of years and many technological developments later, we want to be impressed, but there is an emotional distance. This is similar to what we experience when looking at old black-and-white photographs or films. Once colorized, these images and films have a much stronger emotional appeal, making our ancestors more tangible.

This is exactly what happens with this scroll, which is more than five meters long and depicts scenes from everyday life featuring over 800 people. The video zooms in on sections of the scroll and uses AI to transform the static image into a lively video with sounds and voices. In an instant, we are drawn into the lives of people who lived 900 years ago. Through a change of perspective, viewers mingle directly with the people and experience the hustle and bustle, the atmosphere, the busyness, and realize that we are closer to these people than we thought.

These are precisely the examples we need to recognize and understand the potential and positive impact of AI. We are only at the beginning of this technology and can only vaguely imagine how powerful it will one day be and how creative and productive it will make us.

Enough talk! Immerse yourself in the lives of our ancestors and enjoy the moment with this video.