Lianhe Zaobao inks MOU to trial AI technology for visual content

FLAGSHIP Chinese publication of SPH Media Lianhe Zaobao inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with artificial intelligence (AI) company SenseTime on Monday (Oct 31) to digitalise the newspaper’s work processes for visual content. 

As part of the MOU, Lianhe Zaobao will use SenseTime’s AI technology to “enhance” its visual content, helping photojournalists save time when working on stories while providing its audience with a more immersive reading experience. 

This includes the trial of an application named “Super Resolution” that speeds up imaging processing for news reports and restores the resolution of low-quality images, especially old photos from the newspaper’s archive that dates back to the 1920s. 

Lianhe Zaobao said it will also experiment with SenseTime’s augmented and mixed reality imaging technologies to “inject dynamism” to its visual content on print and digital platforms – for instance by using the technology to animate statis photos and comics. 

Other collaborations in the year-long MOU include jointly organised public seminars to raise awareness on AI technology and AI boot camps for members of Lianhe Zaobao’s student correspondents’ club, a Chinese-language journalism group for students. 

Editor-in-chief of SPH Media Chinese Media Group Lee Huay Leng highlighted that its partnership with SenseTime is part of innovation efforts to “showcase our past and present works in a fresh new approach”. 

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“Using AI-enabled technology to enhance our visual content not only places us in good stead to meet evolving media trends, but it also shapes new ways of delivering essential news content to our audiences,” she said.