Nike has introduced a collection of 13 hyper-futuristic athletic shoes developed with artificial intelligence for top athletes such as Kylian Mbappé ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics this summer.
The Thursday presentation at the Palais Brongniart in Paris showcased prototype shoes for athletes such as sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, runner Eliud Kipchoge, and NBA great Victor Wembanyama.
The designs, which will not be available for purchase, included dramatic elements such as a helix of fabric curling up the ankle of Ms Richardson’s deeply track shoes, and a spiky, transparent fin shooting off the back of Mr. Mbappé’s model.
According to Nike, the shoes were created by interviewing the company’s top athletes
According to Nike, the shoes were created by interviewing the company’s top athletes and then running their design suggestions through AI algorithms to develop prototype designs.
The models were part of the “A.I.R.” line, which stands for Athlete Imagined Revolution, a play on the brand’s well-known air bubble technology. Since the 1970s, the business has incorporated gas-filled bubbles in the soles of select models, which have become one of the brand’s most recognizable design elements. “There’s no going back,” the brand’s chief innovation officer, John Hoke, stated in a press release. “Form and function — meet fantasy.”
