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Artificial intelligence is creeping into everything, even our cookies. Mondelez, the giant behind the famous Oreo and Chips Ahoy, has just admitted to using AI to imagine new flavors for its products. A revelation that leaves one perplexed: how can a machine that cannot taste or smell create flavors that are supposed to delight our taste buds??
When AI plays the sorcerer's apprentice in the kitchen
This gourmet AI does not come out of nowhere. Developed since 2019 in collaboration with consultant Fourkind, it has already left its mark on more than 70 of the group's products. Among its “creations”, the gluten-free Golden Oreo and a new version of Chips Ahoy. Far from being a simple chatbot like ChatGPT, this algorithm is inspired by the methods used by the pharmaceutical industry to discover new drugs.
Kevin Wallenstein, Mondelez’s biscuit modeling manager, defends this choice with disconcerting seriousness. The AI juggles with parameters such as the intensity of the taste “burnt,” “egg,” or “oily,” while adjusting factors such as “buttery taste” or “vanilla intensity.” A true digital conductor who composes without ever having tasted his score.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000The tasty failures of AI
The beginnings were not without hitches. AI, in its quest for optimization, has sometimes come up with some rather dubious recipes. Wallenstein recounts with amusement how the algorithm, fascinated by the low cost of baking soda, suggested putting astronomical amounts of it in cookies. A rookie mistake that would have made any human baker wince.
Faced with these algorithmic slip-ups, Mondelez has had to put in place human safeguards. “Brand guardians” now monitor the AI’s proposals, while real-life testers evaluate each new creation. A task that can become a real torture, as Wallenstein confides: “When I was working on Sour Patch Kids (a particularly bitter candy, editor's note), doing a tasting every day for a week was a nightmare.”
The food industry in the era of great digital upheaval
Joe Manton, R&D director at Mondelez, specifies that the algorithm is based on historical data on recipes and ingredients. The process does not stop at the simple suggestion of the AI. Each new flavor goes through a battery of internal and external tests with consumers. A necessary precaution that shows the limits of automation in a field as subjective as taste.
- Mondelez uses AI inspired by the pharmaceutical industry to create new flavors
- The algorithm experienced spectacular failures before being supervised by human experts
- You probably already eat Oreos created by an AI
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