Whatever your thoughts on the age of artificial intelligence (AI), at least we could all agree that ice cream is safe from the onslaught. Right? Apparently not. Magnum, the ice cream company, has announced its plans to put AI in the driver’s seat to create new flavours and develop “nutritional profiles”. We’re not so sure about you, but Death by Chocolate and Almond were good enough for us.
Ice cream’s magnum opus
Leaving the success of a food company in the hands of a heartless and, more importantly, tasteless machine doesn’t seem like a surefire path to success, but that hasn’t stopped Magnum. It’s already announced that it’s partnering with Chilean start-up NotCo to use its Giuseppe AI tool to “provide AI-guided innovation and product design.”
“Partnering with NotCo allows us to explore how advanced AI tools can help us solve complex formulation challenges faster and more precisely, while keeping consumer needs at the heart of everything we do. We believe that the real magic happens when AI, robotics, and human expertise come together, each exceptional on its own, but exponentially more powerful in combination,” said Zbigniew Lewicki of Magnum.
The partnership’s form remains to be seen when it comes to new offerings from Magnum. We’re expecting it to look something like Coca-Cola’s first foray into AI, which gave birth to the Year 3,000 can, which it claims was “co-created with AI.” The company still employs AI today, most notably resulting in a disastrous AI-generated Christmas ad last year.
According to a report from Reuters, the deal will see the two companies come together to find replacements for synthetic dyes, reducing sugar, and finding the next big viral flavour (think Dubai Chocolate) — in the face of increased inflation of basic ingredients, such as cocoa. That’s how NotCo CEO Matias Muchnick sells it, anyway.
