Digital Restoration of Afghanistan's Bamiyan Buddha using Artificial Intelligence and Its Metaverse Content Development

Recently, the Taliban regime took control of Afghanistan, raising global concern for cultural heritage conservation. In 2001, the Taliban regime demolished the great buddhas of Bamiyan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As such, Afghanistan has halted preservation work due to extensive damage to the site. Due to this challenge, the only option that remained is to use the current digital technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) for its digital preservation. This study aims to use the original model of the Bamiyan Buddha destroyed by the Taliban as a reference for actual restoration by applying AI technology to present an inference model. With the use of an AI-based restoration system, the site can be fully restored to create metaverse content. The system can be further used as a platform for other related cultural heritage sites that are in danger of extinction. This study intends to present a new paradigm of cultural heritage restoration by utilizing AI technology and metaverse content development.