There’s been no shortage of unique Oreo flavors in the past few years. The offerings seen on store shelves in recent months include toffee crunch, birthday cake, java chip, dirt cake, mint, Coca-Cola, and a pink-and-blue concoction called Space Dunk. But that’s not stopping the owner of the beloved cookie brand and its many other snacks from incorporating artificial intelligence into the brainstorming process.
Mondelēz International, which also owns Chips Ahoy, Ritz Crackers, Triscuits, Clif Bars, Cadbury chocolate, among other household-name snacks, is looking to AI to help it update its brands and offer new takes on flavors.
Food scientists at the company are using AI tools to help them come up with new flavors, based on desired taste, aroma, or appearance profiles. Beyond suggesting recipe ideas, the AI also looks at the cost to manufacture the new product as well as the nutritional profile, environmental impact, and other aspects involved in creating the snack.
That’s a big step-up from the trial-and-error innovation method the company used to use, not only for figuring out flavor mixes, but also for getting them to production trials. The process is now two to five times faster, which can translate to between two and 10 weeks, depending on the complexity of the project.
Fortunately, taste tests are still performed by humans—and there are no plans to change that. (Which is a relief since AI’s track record at writing usable recipes is far from perfect.)
Mondelēz initially began exploring the possibility of using AI in 2019, working with Fourkind, a software consulting firm that was later acquired by Thoughtworks.
“What’s really cool about this approach is that far from replacing human creativity, these algorithms serve as catalysts,” said Farooq Ali, product director, AI, strategy & delivery at Thoughtworks, in a company blog post. “They’re able to spark new ideas that human minds haven’t considered yet. They’re not perfect, but no one expects human creative experts to come up with great ideas 100% of the time.”
