If there was one thing we learned when we held the first-ever Food AI Summit last October, it is that pretty much every food company believes their business will fundamentally change due to artificial intelligence.
Whether it’s companies building farm equipment, managing food supply chains, launching new grocery shopping formats, or creating new quick-service restaurant chains, no one along the food value chain will remain untouched by the rapid pace of change brought on by AI. In other words, we are in a once-in-a-generational rethink of business as usual, a tectonic shift that demands company leaders continuously learn, strategize, and collaborate to make sure their companies survive and even thrive into the future.
Because of this, we realized that we wanted to find a way to bring together our community and others within the food system to talk about the different impacts AI is having across various parts of the food system more than once a year. While we loved the fact that the big ideas that were shared at the Food AI Summit have already resulted in new partnerships and collaborations, we wondered if we brought together folks more regularly – on a monthly basis or even more frequently – might have an even bigger impact.
Luckily for us, one of my favorite organizations – the Future Food Institute, led by one of the most consequential leaders in the future food space in Sara Roversi – had a similar idea. So when Sara approached me about joining forces for a collaborative new organization to do just that – I jumped at the chance.
So, alongside the FFI, I am super excited to announce today the launch of the Food AI Co-Lab!
What is the Food AI Co-Lab? It’s a collaboration that aims to be a meeting space and learning center for leaders who are building the future of food through artificial intelligence. We will explore different topics, engage with our community, and provide information such as industry surveys about what people are doing at the intersection of food and AI.
To kick things off, we will host monthly industry-focused meetings with thought leaders creating using AI across various parts of the food system. Soon, we will also announce in-person events in the US and Italy where the community can get together, network, learn together, and build their own collaborations.
If you’d like to join us on this journey, we encourage you to join our LinkedIn group and also register for our first virtual event, AI & The Future of Food, which will take place next Tuesday, March 19th. At that event, we’ll interview two thought leaders: Dr. Patrick Story, a professor of Philosophy at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, participating in a National Science Foundation-funded project analyzing the impact of automation and AI on the food system, and Kevin Brown, the CEO of Innit, a company building a platform that plugs into generative AI large language models to make them more food “fluent” and power AI-assisted food knowledge systems and services.
I hope to see you there, and I am excited to work with you to learn, collaborate, and build the future with the Food AI Co-Lab!
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