Amazon web services partners with yao foundation to cultivate AI and sports talent

On October 10, Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced a collaboration with the Beijing Yao Foundation to launch the 'Cloud Basketball Map' initiative, a program combining sports and technology to train AI-savvy athletes. The initiative will provide $1 million in cash and cloud/AI resources, supporting training for 10 universities, hackathons focused on real-world sports challenges, and the deployment of AI tools in 100 schools. AWS will also support the Yao Foundation's basketball season, offering training and competition opportunities for students. The program, which marks AWS's first entry into China's Breaking Barriers initiative, aims to equip students with AI and data science skills through workshops and mentorship from senior solutions architects. It will also help develop AI tools for personalized training plans, addressing challenges in rural sports education. The Yao Foundation, founded by Yao Ming in 2008, has already reached over 6,700 rural schools across 30 provinces, training more than 1,600 sports teachers.