What's Your Flavor?

Personalizing food with the power of Al

- Damien Martin

What does the future taste like? Coca-Cola's betting it tastes like Y3000, created with the help of AI to "bring the flavor of tomorrow to Coke fans." With the fast-processing abilities of Al, Coca-Cola and other companies are also betting on being able to personalize that taste to individual consumers. Using a combination of data from consumer preferences, real-time trends, chemistry, and sensory profiles, AI can discover new ingredients and flavors, vastly reducing the amount of time it takes to formulate new products. And it can optimize those products to taste better while being healthier.

Viral Flavors

Coca-Cola's not alone in rolling out new products and flavors with the help of Al. This year, Baskin Robbins Korea has debuted two Al-generated flavors: Orange Earl Grey developed with ChatGPT and Tropical Summer Play designed by Google Gemini.

"Through this project, we have confirmed that there is a substantial possibility to employ next-gen AI into our new product development," a company official said. "This unique combination of technology and innovative ideas will offer customers not just delicious products but also special and differentiated experiences."

Baskin Robbins chose the color scheme for the new flavor and asked Gemini to choose ingredients based on those and search terms associated with summertime. The launch event for Tropical Summer Play also featured Gemini recommending flavors to customers based on their moods and personality types. This customization speaks to younger generations that want products tailored specifically to them.