AIINTHEFOODINDUSTRY

BY NATHAN CAREY | FOOD & HEALTH EDITOR

Artificial intelligence has become a hot topic of discussion in the last decade Its application has been applied to numerous fields from retail to analytics However the general public’s perception of AI is still shrouded in misunderstanding and confusion When most of us hear the words artificial intelligence our minds jump to movies and video games where AI characters are often painted as a villain These characters are usually based on the notion of robots revolting against humans and trying to annihilate humanity, but that is unlikely to happen right? The term artificial intelligence was first coined in the 50s and described as “a machine that behaves in such a way that it could be considered intelligent” More refined definitions describe it as the capability of a computer to mimic the thought processes of the human brain. As a neuroscientist, the world of AI fascinates me, but as someone who is interested in the food industry and cooking why should I care?

Interestingly AI has been popping up all over the food world Particularly in large scale production lines When foodstuffs are being prepared in factory settin control is of upmost importance and AI tools are being utilised to recogniz defects in products These processes are being streamlined to reduce food improve on quality Another area where AI is impacting the food we farming sector Farmers are using artificial intelligence to gain precise infor weather trends, soil conditions and plant health High resolution camera ba are being used to survey large fields from above and detect crop diseas early stages to prevent complete loss However AI is also creeping in to ou cooking habits.

If you’ve been online in the last year, no doubt you’ve seen people messi with AI tools that can create images based on word prompts or write entir pieces based on one sentence While these tools are fun to try out, they are ethical concerns These applications draw from large databases of images a and pull out what they think is the best match for the prompt The databas these tools are composed of millions of images and words available online they can choose pieces to base their results on without any express permis has been a huge area of contention with artists worried that their works wil or morphed into some kind of “AI art style” In a similar vein AI has sta used in recipe writing The most popular tool in use currently is OpenAI This neural network can learn skills through the examination of enormous This in itself is a limitation of the technology, as it can only rehash a version of what has already been written By telling the programme abou what kind of food you like and your favourite flavours, the bot can sift thro millions of recipes picking out the parts that align most closely with your original prompt Because they are morphing recipes that already exist, many of the results are plausible recipes that work on paper However when cooked and tasted these recipes fall through There is a lack of heart behind them and it shows Priya Krishna has a very insightful video about this whole topic, going one step further and cooking the recipes – definitely check it out if you're interested! In a less dystopian, more useful application, programmes have been developed that help choose what dish you can cook with the ingredients available to you. Simply insert the ingredients you have and these tools can match them to recipes that feature those ingredients This is a great way to use up leftovers or come up with a quick dinner idea

When it comes to AI and food, its main advantages lie in the food production stage When it comes to recipe writing and flavour combinations, computers cannot beat that human touch While it’s fun to try out these new tools and let them inspire us, we are far from a world where we rely on them every day