Archeology: Microsoft uses AI to digitally recreate the site of the first ever Olympic Games

Viewers around the world can see the site of the first ever Olympic Games as it looked in its prime more than 2,000 years ago thanks to a digital reconstruction. 'Ancient Olympia: Common Grounds' stems from collaboration between the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sport and Microsoft's AI for Cultural Heritage initiative. Microsoft teamed with tech firm Iconem to take hundreds of thousands of images of the ancient site as it lies today -- both with ground- and drone-based cameras. These were processed by Microsoft AI to create models so precise they are photo-realistic and from which the ancient monuments could be digitally reconstructed. The first games took place in Olympia in 776 BC, and recurred every four year until at least AD 393 and they perhaps continued until the Temple of Zeus burnt in 425 AD.