Alphabet's X lab explores using AI to improve food production

Add Alphabet to the growing number of companies hoping that AI will solve food production problems. The Google parent brand's X lab has revealed that it's exploring ways machine learning could improve farming. While X hasn't focused on any specific solutions, lab leader Astro Teller told MIT Technology Review that AI could be combined with drones and other robotics. It could help determine when to harvest crops, or adapt farms in areas where climate change makes forecasting difficult. You shouldn't expect any tangible results in the near future, although X has typically focused on projects where practical applications are at least on the horizon -- think Project Loon.