Sony Corporation has set up Sony AI, an organisation that will initiate research and development into artificial intelligence, including a segue into gastronomy.
The new offices will be spread across Japan, the USA and Europe, with the first projects focussing on gastronomy, gaming, and imaging and sensing.
The gastronomy projects will be centred on optimising food preparation, cooking and delivery. Sony said that gastronomy was chosen for development as the complex and varied task of food preparation could, in turn, be applied to a wider range of skills and industries. Sony also said that the development of gastronomy-based AI is not to replace chefs and traditional cooking, but instead, push the solutions that are beyond what humans are currently capable of.
The development of this sort of technology has many implications for foodservice. One of these is the likeliness that the sphere of automated kitchens is likely to be explored. This would prove beneficial to certain areas of foodservice, especially concerning staffing issues, or for implementation into areas where cooks aren’t as physically mobile.
