During the COVID-19 crisis, Hjaltelin Stahl, part of Accenture Interactive in Denmark, has been working with a number of partners (Red Cross, Coop and the National Danish Art Museum SMK) to help the most vulnerable, and at the same time inspire artists to create art that reminds us of our unity in isolation. The pro bono campaign entitled Touched (or 'Berørt' in Danish) allows Danes to use their hands for good, without physically touching, through an interactive, digital experience and time capsule, made possible by AI.
By simply taking a picture of your hand and uploading it with a message, Danes are able to contribute to an innovative time capsule that will serve as inspiration for this generation and a history lesson for the next. At the same time, it will also help those in need right now because, for every hand, the Danish retailer Coop will donate 5 DKK to Red Cross' COVID-19 relief efforts.
Together with the uploaded image, Danes can add a personal message sharing how their lives have been affected by the pandemic. In this way, a digital time capsule is created, which becomes part of a larger art project led by the National Gallery of Denmark, inviting three artists to come up with an artistic response, drawing inspiration from the nation's messages and images in the development of their artwork.
Powering the project is a unique, mobile and web-based platform where the uploaded hands are graphically assembled using the latest advancements in AI to bring Danes' contributions to life. "'Touched' is the first manifestation of generative, animated 3D creative content powered by AI," said Christian Souche, R&D director at Accenture Interactive Innovation Center in Sophia Antipolis. "Based on generative artificial intelligence, the solution can manage millions of 'hands' to create an animated 3D masterpiece."
To realize its vision, the team used a patented AI solution to manage each hand submission and generate 3D creative content. To create a 3D animated hand, an artist would normally need more than one year to adapt each individual hand whereas, with generative AI, the process takes only 10 milliseconds.