According to the most recent edition of the Global Innovation Index, overall innovation decreased in 2023, leading to a 72% decline in food technology investments since 2021. But instead of slowing down, forward-thinking entrepreneurs are embracing new tools to shape the future of the food industry. One such tool that is on everyone’s minds right now is artificial intelligence, a powerful technology with the potential to revolutionize the food industry.

To get an insider’s take on AI’s current and future impact on the food industry, we spoke with Thomas Hayes, Co-Founder and Head of Business Development at Agilitas, a fast-moving startup that was inspired by the need to address inefficiencies in the traditional food formulation processes. As it stands now, research and development teams rely on manual processing and time-consuming trials. Agilitas harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to easily create and reformulate food recipes and processing instructions. Read on for an expert perspective on how AI is poised to reshape the way we create and innovate in food.

How was AI used in food production and development in the past few years? In terms of the AI landscape, why was 2024 the right time to start Agilitas?

The world has changed remarkably in the last 18 months since OpenAI’s launch of GPT 4. AI is now available at everybody’s fingertips, not to mention being front and center in TV commercials (and I’ve even seen billboards too!). This is creating pent-up demand for the use of AI in the work environment, and food production and development is no exception.

Previously, traditional AI and machine learning systems were built from scratch and required extensive training data sets. This is time consuming, costly, and put the onus on a food manufacturer to generate data. Historically, this hindered the adoption of AI in food production and development.

Now with the advent of large language models (LLMs) like GPT4 and generative AI more broadly, it provides a significant foundational layer to rapidly build and deploy purpose-built solutions for specific use cases such as food development. This is the opportunity Agilitas is seizing and why 2024 was the right time to launch the company.

What do you see as the most impactful and exciting application of AI in the packaged food & beverage industry right now?

I see AI being applied across three major applications in the food & beverage industry:

demand signaling (“What do consumers want to eat?”),
formulation & manufacturing (“How do we create the food product that consumers will eat?”), and
supply chain (“How do we effectively get that food product into as many consumers’ hands?”).

Startups are proliferating across this spectrum to provide AI-enabled answers to these questions that keep food & beverage companies up at night.

As you can imagine, I do have a bias here on what is the most impactful and exciting application. I am very bullish on the opportunity for AI in formulation. Why is that? The packaged food & beverage industry is under extreme pressure, now more than ever, to reduce costs while improving the quality and healthfulness of their offerings, leading to more and more reformulations and new product lines. Think inflation, GLP-1, climate change, the list goes on. These are all compounding pressures that require brands to adapt their product portfolio at a breakneck pace.

Unfortunately, the people responsible for food formulation have been ill-equipped to operate at the speed and agility that is needed to create and adapt products in our ever changing world. Food scientists, research chefs, and product developers have been woefully underserved with regards to technology. One even said to me “the food R&D community hates having to use the current software options out there, they don't serve us the way modern AI tools can.” This is a community hungry for a solution that enables them to formulate smarter, faster, and easier - while also meeting the constantly shifting demands of the market - and the latest advances in AI can offer that.

How can AI help companies meet increasing consumer demand for sustainability and health-conscious products?

Food formulation is inherently difficult, with a seemingly limitless number of ingredient options and complex dependencies between them. Formulating sustainable and health-conscious products is even more involved as you aim to meet desired claims and nutritional targets without sacrificing on taste and quality. AI excels in keeping all of those parameters and constraints in mind, then quickly recommending optimized formula options. Too often companies have to manually “turn dials up and down” with their formula in hopes of meeting the desired claims and nutritional targets, among other intended outcomes, which is extremely hard to do when there are many product requirements that must be satisfied.

agilitas is an AI Formulation Platform that enables formula creation and management. Image Source: Agilitas.

Are there common misconceptions about AI in food development, and how do you address them?

The common misconception is that AI is difficult and expensive to adopt. In the pre-LLM world, this was true, but is no longer the case. All it can take is one R&D champion within an organization to start piloting an AI-enabled software, prove the value, then expand to their team, then to another team, etc. There is no longer a need to establish behemoth, bespoke engagements with AI solution providers that require massive budgets and long sales cycles. Barriers to the adoption of AI are now lower than ever before.

What guidance would you offer to food industry professionals for leveraging AI in their work?

In short: be a technology pioneer. AI is not going to replace you. But you know who can? Someone who can do your job AND knows how to effectively use AI. The time to embrace AI is now.

Though the use of AI in the food industry is relatively recent, it has shown itself to be the key to unlocking increased innovation, allowing companies to experiment, adapt, and evolve faster than ever before. Already, AI is an essential tool that is revolutionizing our relationship to food from farm to fork and paving the way for a more innovative and resilient food system.

If you are interested in exploring how Agilitas could accelerate your product formulation, we are happy to put you in touch with Thomas and are thrilled to have him and the team as members of Branchfood. Reach out to info@branchfood.com.