How AI Will Revolutionize the Plant-Based Food Industry in 2024

While it’s not clear how the plant-derived meat replacement market is going to settle given recent startup failures, Generative AI (GAI) has already proved it can revolutionize the entire plant-based food industry from protein-packed breads to soups, beverages, meat-alternatives and more in 2024. It’s critical for those of us who share concerns about the planet and sustainability.

Beyond the hype cycle of ChatGPT, Bard and Gemini (released Thursday by Google), it’s clear that GAI based on enormous scientific datasets will play a significant role in a market that is projected to grow from US$ 11.3 billion in 2023 to US$ 35.9 billion by 2033 (source: Future Market Insights). After all, plant-based proteins often lack the functional properties of animal-derived proteins, such as gelling, emulsifying, and foaming abilities. Creating this verisimilitude is critical to crafting successful dairy substitutes, meat alternatives, and baked goods.

Diving deeper, GAI has enabled specific amino acid modifications that allow plant-based proteins such as the Big Six (pea, lupin, soy, lentil, fava bean and chickpea protein) to be tailored for specific food applications.

Products such as Impossible Burger and Beyond Meat were not developed in a vacuum. GAI algorithms warp-speed protein structure and…