Artificial intelligence is transforming the business world in ways we couldn't have imagined until recently. Just how--and what the future holds--was the topic of a panel discussion at the TIME100 Impact Dinner: Leaders Shaping the Future of AI in San Francisco on Monday moderated by TIME's executive editor Nikhil Kumar. The panelists were Ravi Kumar S, CEO of Cognizant, which sponsored the event; Athina Kanioura, chief strategy and transformation officer at PepsiCo, which also sponsored the event; and Jared Kaplan, co-founder and chief science officer at Anthropic . Ravi Kumar and Kaplan both featured on the 2025 TIME100 AI list, which highlights the 100 most influential people in AI this year, from computer scientists to business leaders to policy makers and artists. "One of the things about the public conversation about AI is that quite often it is focused on the companies behind the technology and what they are doing," said TIME's Nikhil Kumar when introducing the panel.

Barcelona & Partners, Barcelona Global's investment attraction agency, shared the powerful tech ecosystem of Barcelona and the business opportunities the city offers to scale ups, corporates, and investors. This happened during the Fast Growth Summit, a high-level event organized by the New York-based venture capital firm called Left Lane Capital. The city of Barcelona has emerged as a prominent innovation hub. The access to skilled talent at scale, and ability to attract it, its thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem, the increasing number of global companies, and great quality of life, are just some of the elements that make Barcelona one of the world's best cities to expand a business to. Recommended AI: Consider Your DOOH Buying Methods Wisely: Direct Sales vs. Programmatic Buying "As an investment agency, our aim is to continuously grow the number of multinational companies as well as scaleups looking to invest in our city and transform Barcelona into a global reference. New York is undoubtedly the perfect platform to present why US companies are flocking to Barcelona", stated Montse Puig, CEO of Barcelona & Partners during the event.

An Oxford University tech spinout has invented a'ground breaking' AI tool that scans users' bodies to provide accurate clothing measurements, with the intention of streamlining the online shopping experience and saving UK retailers billions in returns. Initially founded in 2019 by Duncan McKay, INSEAD MBA and Phil Torr, Professor of Computer Vision and Deep Learning at the University of Oxford, the tech firm went on to be awarded two Innovate UK Grants, and one Future Fashion Factory Grant in partnership with the University of Leeds with funding totalling approximately £1.2 million. McKay said: "I have worked for L'Oreal, Unilever and PepsiCo coming up with new product ideas and consumer solutions – I built an £18m net revenue business in a year whilst at PepsiCo. I got into this because I love innovating – I get a kick out of innovation, building and scaling businesses. I founded Aistetic with Phil Torr as I experienced the problem of poor-fitting clothes personally and we both felt that we could solve this with a technology solution. With the development of our patent-pending solution, we quickly realised that our purpose is bigger than that – we want to make next-gen 3D body modelling available to anyone with a mobile device."

We are excited to bring Transform 2022 back in-person July 19 and virtually July 20 - 28. Join AI and data leaders for insightful talks and exciting networking opportunities. Like innovation before it, co-innovation is quickly becoming both corporate buzzword and gospel. By partnering with tech companies to harness the power of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and big data, co-innovation has been heralded as essential to future success – especially for businesses that exist outside of the digital realm. But before companies rush to embrace this growing trend in corporate America, they would be well served to keep a few key principles in mind when it comes to co-innovation, lest they fall prey to shiny, new capabilities that look great on paper but can't be implemented or scaled in reality. As the chief strategy and transformation officer at PepsiCo, I oversee our digitalization strategy so I recognize the power of new technologies – we're already using machine learning and data analytics to improve existing systems, processes and products.

In its first year of operations, Coca-Cola sold only around 25 bottles of Coke. Today, the company sells approximately 1.9 billion servings of its drinks across over 200 countries. In fact, despite sharing a smaller share of the market, its competitor PepsiCo is still one of the largest companies worldwide. What may not be common knowledge is that both the rivals– Coca-Cola and PepsiCo employ artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to stay at the top of their game. Today, we take a peek into how these beverage companies are employing technologies to remain competitive. According to Greg Chambers, Global Director of Digital Innovation at Coca-Cola, "AI is the foundation for everything" that the Coca-Cola Company does.

Where does your enterprise stand on the AI adoption curve? Take our AI survey to find out. If you imagine how a food and beverage company creates new offerings, your mind likely fills with images of white-coated researchers pipetting flavors and taste-testing like mad scientists. More and more, companies in the space are tapping AI for product development and every subsequent step of the product journey. At PepsiCo, for example, multiple teams tap AI and data analytics in their own ways to bring each product to life. It starts with using AI to collect intel on potential flavors and product categories, allowing the R&D team to glean the types of insights consumers don't report in focus groups.

Food and beverage manufacturers are putting the people and platforms in place to reap the benefits of artificial intelligence. The potential of AI is vast and may one day impact nearly all aspects of the supply chain. The challenge management teams face is identifying and investing in the tools that will deliver the greatest return on investment. Artificial intelligence is the use of algorithms, some more sophisticated than others, to analyze streams of data more quickly than any human and identify patterns and trends. With enough data, the technology may be capable of predicting market movement.

Consumers are more likely to think of artificial ingredients than artificial intelligence when they see a bag of chips or a bottle of soda.

One business who realized that using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning is a business need, no longer a competitive advantage is PepsiCo. The food-and-beverage company behind brands such as Pepsi, Gatorade, Tropicana, Lipton, Frito-Lay, and Quaker sells products in more than 200 countries and brought in $64.7 billion in annual revenue last year. From robots to machine learning, PepsiCo uses AI and machine learning throughout the organization in many ways. There's a six-wheeled mobile vending machine robot tooling around the University of the Pacific chockful of PepsiCo snacks and beverages from Hello Goodness--a healthier line-up that includes SunChips, Baked Lay's and bubly sparkling water. Named Snackbot, these self-driving robots are a partnership between Robby Technologies and PepsiCo.

The mobile vending machine that PepsiCo recently launched at University of the Pacific has caused excitement among college students craving for a quick refreshment, but the U.S. food giant suggested that this is only the tip of the iceberg of when it comes to providing food service using artificial intelligence. The self-driving robots, named as Snackbot, were developed through a partnership between PepsiCo and the Bay Area-based Robby Technologies. At the moment, they deliver snacks and beverages from PepsiCo's better-for-you portfolio Hello Goodness, which includes Smartfood Delight, Baked Lay's, SunChips, Pure Leaf Iced Tea, bubly, LIFEWTR and Starbucks Cold Brew. The Hello Goodness range was launched in 2015, and it has been boosting PepsiCo's e-commerce and vending businesses. The company previously conducted a Hello Goodness store test on Amazon back in 2017, and it showed its healthy snacking portfolio performed nearly 45% better than the sales from other similar campaigns and return on investment for advertising.