Design and Development of Hybrid Artificial Intelligence-Enabled Virtual Reality for Digital Inheritance and Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage

Digital preservation and transmission of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) are important in preserving cultural identity in the face of modernization. Virtual Reality (VR) technology offers an effective medium for experiential, interactive presentation of ICH components with new forms of cultural engagement, particularly among younger audiences. Current systems rely heavily on text or 2D media, which have no experiential depth and emotional impact, resulting in less interested audiences and incomplete cultural comprehension. Traditional methods—i.e., photographic documentation, oral recording, and 2D archiving—cannot capture the performative and spatial nature of ICH practice. The model adopted is based on a VR-based reconstruction system complemented by the Spatio-Temporal Attention Graph Convolutional Network (STAGCN) algorithm that allows realistic simulation of rituals, crafts, and folk arts. This model guarantees dynamic interaction, high-fidelity visualization, and contextual learning. Comparative performance against baseline CNN and LSTM models demonstrates improved performance of STAGCN model of accuracy at 99.2%, F1-score at 98.5%, and pointing towards improved feature representation and cultural authenticity. The excellence comes in the form of spatial-temporal consistency and adaptive attention learning, performing significantly better than static models for user immersion, accuracy, and effectiveness in retaining culture.