There is a lot of fear about AI – but it might do wonders for our taste buds.

Around the world, major companies such as Mars are scrambling to use artificial intelligence to design better foods, with dozens of products already on sale. 

From sodas to alcohol and vegan food, firms want hope that AI‘s vast processing power will help invent recipes that we mere mortals have overlooked. 

Analyst Mordor Intelligence expects the market for AI in food production to grow to $35 billion worldwide by 2028.

AI Coke

Coca Cola has released a new Zero Sugar drink ‘co-created’ by human designers and AI which is designed to taste like a drink from the year 3000.

The limited edition Y3000 drink boasts that it is ‘futuristic flavoured’ and ‘designed by artificial intelligence’.

One TikToker said that the taste resembled stirring a normal Coke with a sugary lollipop and then drinking it.

The Y3000 limited edition is on sale now in the U.S. via Coca-Cola’s website. 

AI ice cream

Chinese ice cream maker Zhong Xue Gao used AI to design, market and create a new low-priced ice cream, launched in Shanghai in March.

The product is called “Sa’Saa”, which means “Satisfy And Surprise Any Adventure”, and comes in red bean, green bean, milk, and cocoa flavours.

The organisation used ChatGPT and the Chinese ‘Ernie’ AI chatbot to design and market the products.

The ice cream is not on sale in the West, but is currently on sale in China.  

Mystery meat stew

Not all AI experiments go to plan – and an AI chatbot designed by New Zealand chain Pak N’Save came out with recipes which involved cannibalism or deadly chlorine gas.

The app at first drew attention for unappetising recipes like an ‘Oreo vegetable stir fry’ – but then users found it would also recommend recipes with non-edible ingredients.

One, for ‘aromatic water mix’ which the bot described as ‘the perfect nonalcoholic beverage to quench your thirst and refresh your senses’ would release deadly chlorine gas.

The bot also offered recipes for poison and glue sandwiches – and human flesh stew which it described as ‘Mystery Meat Stew’.

AI designed vegan cheese

Chilean ‘food tech’ company Notco uses machine learning to create vegan versions of dairy and meat products – by analysing them at the molecular level.

The AI, known as Giuseppe, analyses the molecular structure of products and suggests ways to recreate them using plants.

The result is a partnership with Kraft, Kraft Heinz Not Company, which has released AI-designed cheese – Kraft NotCheese Slices.

Kraft NotCheese Slices are launching this year in the U.S. after trials.  

AI designed whisky

Swedish whisky company MackMyra worked with Finnish tech company Fourkind to design and AI whisky – processing information including recipes and customer feedback to create the ‘perfect’ whisky.

Using Microsoft’s Machine Learning Studio, the first ‘Intelligens’ whisky was launched in 202.

Not everyone is impressed though – blogger The Whisky Lady writes, ‘It’s probably a psychological bias, but you can almost feel it’s been computer-designed as it does lack personality.

The ‘Intelligens’ whisky is available now.  

AI beer

Billed as ‘the beer that made itself’ Becks Autonomous had a recipe designed by ChatGPT and a marketing campaign made by AI art software Midjourney.

ChatGPT came up with the entire concept with Beck’s marketing team asking for an idea to promote the beer’s 150th anniversary – and ChatGPT told them to brew a limited edition beer.

The limited-edition brew saw 450 cans going on sale in Europe with artwork and marketing materials designed by AI. 

 AI energy drink

Hungarian energy drink maker Hell turned to AI to design a new flavour and fed an AI sytem with information on sales, ingredients, health research and consumer feedback.

The AI came out with the tantalising sounding, ‘Tutti Frutti and Berry Blast’ flavour, which is launching in 60 countries worldwide this year.

The company believes that AI can usher in a ‘new era’ for the food insutry, reducing product development times from up to two years down to as little as a month.

The new Hell flavour is on sale now.  

Some of the most powerful people in America assembled in Washington, DC, today to help shape the future of artificial intelligence (AI) safeguards.

The unprecedented meeting took place as the US Senate gears up to draft legislation that will regulate the rapidly advancing AI industry, which many of the world’s best minds fear could destroy humanity if left unchecked.

The gathering brought 22 of the most influential voices in the tech sector – who had a combined net worth of over $400billion – and 100 senators under one roof, bridging the gap between Silicon Valley and the nation’s capital.

The high-profile event included notorious AI critic Elon Musk, who today called for tighter regulation of AI, as well as Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and the CEOs of Google and IBM. 

The private meeting was a crash course for legislators on how best to regulate AI: a technical achievement which some of these same industry leaders likened to the ‘extinction’-level risk of nuclear weapons. 

Those who fear AI fear it could surpass human intelligence and develop independent thinking. This means it would no longer need or listen to humans, in a worst-case scenario stealing nuclear codes, create pandemics and spark world wars.

So, who was at the meeting?

In additional to his reputation for massive wealth, Elon Musk is known for his influential role in AI. 

As the CEO of Tesla, he has been a driving force behind the development of autonomous vehicles, pushing the boundaries of AI in the automotive industry with features like Tesla’s Autopilot. 

The 52-year-old has also been a vocal advocate for AI safety and has co-founded OpenAI to ensure responsible AI development. 

After the meeting with US lawmakers today, Musk has been a vocal proponent of AI safety, and said a ‘referee’ is  needed to monitor systems. 

• Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg – Net worth: $109 billion

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook), oversees one of the world’s leading social media and tech conglomerates, including: Instagram, Threads, Facebook and WhatsApp. 

While AI plays a crucial role in Meta’s operations, including content recommendations and augmented reality, Zuckerberg has also ventured into AI research with projects like Jarvis, his personal AI assistant. 

Meta introduced Llama 2, a model similar to ChatGPT, that could challenge what is one of the fastest-growing apps of all time. At the conference today, the 39-year-old pushed for ‘open source’ technology, arguing that open-sourcing infrastructure will minimize potential safety risks and maximize access.

• Google, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai – Net worth: $1.3 billion 

As the CEO of Alphabet, Sundar Pichai, 51, manages Google’s parent company, which is at the forefront of AI research. Google’s AI innovations range from improving search algorithms to pioneering developments in natural language processing with products like Google Assistant. 

Pichai told Wired that he is not in a rush to catch up on OpenAI. He said releasing Google’s AI products before ChatGPT was launched ‘wouldn’t have worked out as well.’ 

• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman: $250 million

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, is arguably the most powerful person in AI development today. The future of AI will be impacted by his beliefs and actions. 

The 38-year-old has played a central role in advancing AI safeguards. Under his leadership, OpenAI has focused on creating AI technologies that attempt to benefit society, including notable features like GPT-3.

• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang: $40 billion

Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, has steered the company towards AI dominance. Nvidia’s GPUs are pivotal in accelerating AI workloads, powering everything from deep learning research to AI-driven gaming experiences. The 60-year-old founded Nvidia in 1993, which originally worked to create increasingly immersive video games. Today, Nvidia is the world’s ‘dominant producer of the microprocessors that power the AI revolution,’ according to the Atlantic, pushing Nvidia’s stock to skyrocket nearly 200 percent over the past year to reach a $1.1 trillion valuation.

•  Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella: $320 million

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, has overseen the company’s significant investments in AI. Microsoft Azure’s AI services, as well as the acquisition of LinkedIn and GitHub, have solidified Microsoft’s position as a key player in AI development and cloud services. Nadella, 56, believes the benefits of AI far outweigh potential consequences. He told Wired that he can’t imagine life without AI. 

• IBM CEO Arvind Krishna: $42 million

Arvind Krishna, CEO of IBM, has led the company in AI and quantum computing endeavors. IBM’s Watson AI platform has been a trailblazer in AI applications across various industries, from healthcare to finance. Krishna, 61, is a strong supporter of the future of AI, claiming ‘the world needs AI to help offset productivity losses because of declines in the working age population,’ according to Fortune. While he believe white-collar jobs will be among the first to be impacted by AI, he ultimately says AI will create more jobs than it will replace. 

• Former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates: $129 billion 

Bill Gates, the former CEO of Microsoft, has been a long-standing advocate for technology and AI. Although he stepped down from his CEO role, Gates continues to be involved in philanthropic efforts, including funding AI research to address global challenges like healthcare and climate change. The 67-year-old believes AI has potential to change the future of health and education. He said could transform production systems worldwide, according to CNBC. 

• AFL-CIO labor federation President Liz Shuler 

Today, Shuler argued that workers must be central to AI policy. Ahead of the meeting, Shuler, 53, released a statement expressing her concern for workers: ‘Public support for unions is at near record highs because workers are tired of being guinea pigs in an AI live experiment. The labor movement knows AI can empower workers and increase prosperity – but only if workers are centered in its creation and the rules that govern it.’ 

Some additional top tech tycoons who were summoned before Congress: 

Charles Rivkin, the chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association; Janet Murguía, the president of Unidos US; Rumman Chowdhury, CEO of Humane Intelligence; Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google and Chair of the Special Competitive Studies Project; Gary Kelly executive chairman of the board, Southwest Airlines; Clément Delangue, CEO of Hugging Face; and Maya Wiley, the president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights.