Whisk, a smart food platform acquired by Samsung NEXT last year, today unveiled its advanced Food AI developed in a collaboration with nutritionists, food scientists, software engineers and grocery retailers from the U.S., U.K., Korea and Europe.

Whisk’s Food AI brings together user preferences, intent and context to deliver personalized cooking experiences. To inform the AI, users simply save a few of their favorite recipes into Whisk’s recipe box and, if they wish, share personal food preferences (e.g. likes, dietary restrictions, usual retailers) and their location. Users then receive personalized food recommendations based on their preferences, saved recipes and other context (e.g. local weather, seasonal goods).

Left: Recommendation model, Right: Food Genome™

The personalized cooking experience shown today at CES 2020 is brought to life by the combination of Food AI and the new Samsung Family Hub with the ViewInside camera, where AI-powered image recognition is used to first understand what’s inside the fridge. Then, the fridge recommends a curated feed of recipes that incorporate the ingredients you already have with your preferences, desires and situational needs.

The ViewInside feature helps users better utilize what is in their fridge.

The impact of this goes beyond the individual cooking experience to help families make smarter food decisions. “In the US an average person wastes 238 pounds of food per year – that’s a staggering 21 percent of the food they buy. Wasted ingredients also cost the average US household $1,800 per year[1].  When coupled with the fact that people generally end up cooking the same 7-9 dishes on repeat, people are not being inspired to find creative solutions to use up leftover ingredients, wasting food, time and money.” said Nick Holzherr, Head of Product, Whisk at Samsung NEXT. “Whisk’s Food AI takes the ingredients you have and finds uses for them through an understanding of the kinds of recipes you enjoy, making your cooking experience simpler and smarter.”

Whisk’s Food AI is the result of collaboration with over 100 food data experts, nutritionists, data scientists and software engineers working together from Seoul, Birmingham UK, San Francisco, New York, St. Petersburg and Tel Aviv. In these collaborations, Whisk, Samsung NEXT and Samsung Research have brought key players together from across Samsung internally, as well as from the food and science community in industry and academia.

Last month, Whisk launched its first set of multi-platform apps to empower users with a faster way to plan and shop for meals by turning saved recipes into collaborative, smarter shopping lists. See more here.

Come and find us at CES to see Food AI and the new Samsung Family Hub with the ViewInside camera in action. Booth # 15006 in the Connected Living zone.

About Whisk:
Whisk is the world’s smartest food platform that connects recipes and products to shopping and cooking. Leveraging artificial intelligence and deep learning, Whisk partners with the world’s largest retailers, publishers, CPG brands and health companies to engage users to create meaningful food experiences and drive growth at every step of the food journey – from planning to plate. Whisk was founded in 2012 by Nick Holzherr and has been a part of Samsung NEXT since March 2019. For more information, visit https://whisk.com/.
[1] Buzby, Jean C. et al. “The Estimated Amount, Value, and Calories of Postharvest Food Losses at the Retail and Consumer Levels in the United States.” Economic Research Service, USDA, February 2014. Retrieved March 7, 2019