Alibaba Cloud has unveiled Cloud City: Build with AI, a new interactive installation at i Light Singapore 2025, inviting the public to co-create a vision for a greener and more intelligent future. The exhibit marks the company’s 10th anniversary in Singapore and showcases its continued commitment to sustainability and digital innovation.
Public invited to envision a smarter, greener Singapore
Located at the Mist Walk along Marina Bay, Cloud City: Build with AI encourages visitors to interact with AI and cloud technology in a creative way. The installation forms part of the i Light Singapore festival, which is organised by the Urban Redevelopment Authority and known as Asia’s leading light festival.
Visitors can scan a QR code, choose a theme that reflects their hopes for the future, and upload a selfie. Using Alibaba’s AI video generation model Wan2.1, the system transforms each selfie into a futuristic AI-generated avatar. The result is a short animated video that portrays each visitor as a resident of a future Singapore shaped by artificial intelligence and sustainability. These videos are then projected in real-time onto the installation, immersing visitors in the imagined cityscape of tomorrow.
Participants can also download and share their personalised videos across social media, helping spread the message of sustainable innovation beyond the event itself.
Hon Keat Choong, Country Manager of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Singapore, said: “As we mark our 10th year in Singapore, Alibaba Cloud is proud to deepen our commitment to sustainability and innovation through this collaboration with URA for i Light Singapore. Cloud City: Build with AI invites everyone to engage directly with the transformative power of AI and cloud technology, helping to shape a smarter, greener future for the city. Together, we’re turning imagination into action and lighting the way forward for Singapore’s sustainable tomorrow.”
Powered by AI innovation and real-world applications
The exhibit uses two of Alibaba’s flagship AI models—Wan2.1 and Qwen—to create a dynamic, personalised experience. Wan2.1 is designed to produce high-quality images and videos from a combination of text and image inputs. It handles complex movements and enhances visual quality while maintaining a realistic, physics-based approach to animation.
Qwen, a large language model, was employed during the installation’s development to refine input prompts, ensuring the generated videos were accurate and meaningful. These animations reflect three core themes: AI-Powered Tech, AI-Elevated Life, and AI-Transformed Cities.
The exhibit draws from Alibaba Cloud’s real-world AI implementations, including its sustainability solution, Energy Expert. This tool allows businesses to track and analyse their carbon emissions, predict energy usage, and receive recommendations for carbon reduction. It also simplifies ESG reporting, helping organisations meet regulatory standards while making progress towards their sustainability goals.
A broader mission for carbon neutrality
Beyond the festival, the installation reinforces Alibaba Cloud’s broader mission to support sustainable development. The company is actively working towards achieving carbon neutrality across Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions and aims to power all its cloud computing infrastructure with 100% clean energy by 2030.
As a digital infrastructure provider, Alibaba Cloud continues to promote the use of AI and intelligent computing to help clients reduce carbon footprints, optimise resource efficiency, and drive sustainable practices. Its efforts to open-source models like Wan2.1 have already gained traction, with over 3.3 million downloads across platforms such as Hugging Face and ModelScope.
Through Cloud City: Build with AI, Alibaba Cloud invites Singaporeans to be part of the conversation and co-create a future where sustainability and technology go hand in hand.
