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BEIJING, July 17 (Xinhua) -- In a first for Xinhua News Agency, 37,581 machine-generated videos were created over the course of the 2018 FIFA World Cup by its in-house developed platform "MAGIC."

The videos, which included match highlights and player profiles, were viewed 116 million times.

MAGIC is so called as it combines machine-generated content (MGC) and artificial intelligence (AI). The project is the brainchild of a collaboration between Xinhua and e-commerce giant Alibaba.

The quickest video created by the platform was produced in just six seconds. While videos made of the goals were generated on average in 50.7 seconds.

For the platform to do its magic, it needs the support of four intelligent sub-systems; data mining, an intelligent database, AI algorithms and a recommendation system.

MAGIC has applications beyond the World Cup.

The system has been designed to be incorporated into every stage of news production, from finding leads, to news gathering, editing, distribution and finally feedback analysis. It is a major part of Xinhuas push to become an intelligent newsroom by utilizing the efficiency and quality of AI-news production. Enditem