The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Digital Application Path of Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Case Study of Shadow Puppetry

With the continuous advancement of technology, artificial intelligence (AI) has been widely applied to the digital protection and innovative development of intangible cultural heritage, gradually becoming an important force in promoting the systematic construction of intangible cultural heritage. As the core of the new generation of information technology, AI, with its efficient data processing, precise decision support, and continuous learning capabilities, is profoundly influencing the survival and development models of intangible cultural heritage. This paper systematically explores the role and mechanism of AI in the protection, inheritance, and dissemination of intangible cultural heritage from four dimensions: digitization, informatization, intelligentization, and automation. Taking Chinese shadow puppetry as an example, this paper focuses on analyzing the practice of AI in digital acquisition, content generation, and immersive experience, promoting the transformation of intangible cultural heritage protection methods from "static recording" to "living inheritance," expanding the expressive forms of traditional art, and enhancing audience participation and interactive experience.