Will artificial intelligence mean we end up forgetting how to cook?

Wandering among the engineers, strategy directors and managers of something called "connected customer experience" at the Smart Kitchen Summit, one had to wonder: do any of these people actually cook? The conference, now in its third year, brings together people on the front lines of technology to figure out how to move the digital revolution deeper into the kitchen. The kitchen is where Americans spend 60 per cent of their time at home when they are not sleeping, says Yoon Lee, a senior vice president at Samsung. That's why so many tech companies are focused on it. Almost everyone here at Benaroya Hall, the home of the Seattle Symphony – whether an executive from a major appliance manufacturer, a Google engineer or a hopeful young entrepreneur with a popular Kickstarter concept – agrees that it is only a matter of five to 10 years before artificial intelligence has a permanent seat at the dinner table.