How AI could bring the dishes of the world's great chefs to your doorstep
In a science-fiction-like scenario, 'recipe record and playback' technology means that a chef's signature dish could be recreated in a kitchen they've never even set foot in
Artificial intelligence could capture chefs' cooking secrets, allowing their recipes to be replicated. Photography Nikhil Abraham / YouTube©
Intellectual property is difficult to apply to the culinary world, but chefs could one day monetize their culinary secrets if they agree to prepare a dish under the watchful eye of artificial intelligence. In a science-fiction-like scenario, 'recipe record and playback' technology means that a chef's signature dish could be recreated in a kitchen they've never even set foot in.
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From Dominique Ansel's half-croissant, half-doughnut creation the cronut, to Yann Brys's swirling cream creation piped on a potter's wheel and Pierre Hermé's iconic Ispahan rose and lychee macaron, many great chefs claim—and rightly so—to be the inventors of signature tricks of the trade, cooking techniques and recipes.
But in legal terms, the application of intellectual property rights to the world of gastronomy can be complicated. As such, guaranteeing copyright and monetizing the 'ownership' of culinary creations can prove tricky.
However, cooks could potentially monetize their signature dishes by sharing all their secrets—from the exact cooking times to the precise temperature, or when to add this or that ingredient—with artificial intelligence. Californian start-up CloudChef has developed a software program that does just that. Specifically, cameras and sensors are placed at the level of the cooking hob. The aim is to record, for example, the proportion of each ingredient, the temperature of the meat, the precise size of the cut vegetables, but also the exact moment when the piece of meat is turned over, the thickness of a sauce or the degree of caramelization of a food such as onions.
