Growing role for AI in fresh produce

There is a growing role for artificial intelligence within horticulture, experts have claimed – but it is not the silver bullet many people think. Speaking at World of Fresh Ideas, Anthony Atlas, head of product and growth at agronomic machine-learning specialist ClimateAI, outlined the benefits and pitfalls of AI use on farms. Describing AI as "systems that generate predictions from past correlations – a giant pattern-identification machine", Atlas said AI is only as good as the training it receives. He stressed that it is not easy to build, and that there isn't one single system that does everything, but instead each task is done by a separate model trained to perform a particular task. In horticulture, AI is being used as a decision-support system in climate and weather forecasting, imagery interpretation and precision automation of greenhouses. Benefits of AI include more complexity, nuance and power, the ability to cheaply automate repetitive tasks, and the fact it is more lightweight than a supercomputer.