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We are all too familiar with the consequences that our meat consumption has on the planet. Meat production is judged for its inefficiencies, animal cruelty and contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. However, few consumers feel the motivation to change their food consumption in order to support a more sustainable lifestyle (Austgulen et al., 2018). As changing the behaviour of all consumer appears to be challenging, technology may offer an alternative path to finding a solution to this wicked problem.

More and more start-ups are exploring the path of cultured meat as a proposed alternative to the traditional animal production. Cultured meat describes the process of producing meat using vitro cultivation of animal cells (Mosa Meat, 2019a). Mosa Meat is a Dutch start-up with the mission to commercialize cultured meat and offer it to the mass market as a viable alternative to the traditional production process for meat by 2021. In 2013, Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, funded the initial research which led to the creation of the first Hamburger made out of cultured meat. While the project was a success, the cost of production was roughly $250,000, not very affordable for the average consumer. However, Mosa Meat is optimistic that the cost of production will drop to $10, making it a commercially viable alternative for consumers.

Following recent taste tests conducted by Mosa Meat, testers were unable to distinguish real meat from the cultured alternative (Mosa Meat, 2019b). I am very curious to try it myself, are you? Nonetheless, the benefits of cultured meat are clear: it sustainably meets the demands of a growing population, it is animal-friendly, and it requires fewer resources making it efficient to produce.

In a series A funding, Mosa Meat was successful in securing €7.5M in funding (Brightlands, 2018). Bell Food Group was one of the investors, who is also one of the world’s leading processors of meat (Bellfoodgroup, n.d). This showcases that the threat of substitution is real. Traditional companies in the meat industry are reacting to the disrupting innovation in an attempt to not be left behind by technological advancements. I am all too curious how this will play out. Will consumer welcome or accept cultured meat as a substitute for traditional meat – would you?

References:

Austgulen, M., Skuland, S., Schjøll, A. and Alfnes, F. (2018). Consumer Readiness to Reduce Meat Consumption for the Purpose of Environmental Sustainability: Insights from Norway. Sustainability, 10(9), p.3058.

Bellfoodgroup.com. (n.d.). Bell Food Group. [online] Available at: https://www.bellfoodgroup.com/en/ [Accessed 18 Oct. 2019].

Brightlands. (2018). MosaMeat raises €7.5M to commercialise cultured meat. [online] Available at: https://www.brightlands.com/news/2018/cultured-meat-mosameat-receives-75-million-euros-funding [Accessed 18 Oct. 2019].

Mosa Meat. (2019a). How cultured meat is made — Mosa Meat. [online] Available at: https://www.mosameat.com/technology [Accessed 18 Oct. 2019].

Mosa Meat. (2019b). The latest taste test – Mosa Meat. [online] Available at:      https://www.mosameat.com/blog/2019/9/20/our-latest-taste-test [Accessed 18 Oct. 2019].

 

 

 

 

 

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AI Art – creative or not?

In October of last year, a painting was sold at an auction for $432,500 which was 40 times the expected price (Yahoo.com, 2018). While the price tag may not be usual for classical paintings, what sets this painting apart from other paintings is that it was created with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Figure 1: Edmond de Belamy (Obvious-art.com, 2019)

The application of AI in art has increasingly been gaining traction. Mario Klingemann, a German artist, is seen as a pioneer when it comes to applying AI to create art. He says that “Humans are not original, …, we only reinvent, make connections between things we have seen” (Klingemann, n/a). While humans are limited based on what we have learned in the past, Klingemann argues that machines are not restricted by such biases – “they can create from scratch” (Klingemann, n/a). However, many would respond to this with the comment that the outcome of a machine’s algorithm is solely a reflection of the programmer’s creativity.

Now comes the part which impressed me the most when reading more about Klingemann’s work, which also falsifies the previous argument. Namely, he uses a sub-category of AI called generative adversarial networks (GANs) (Klingemann, 2019). The way it works is that the system consists of two neural networks working together. While system 1, the Generator, is creating images from scratch, system 2, the discriminator, is trained on judging the quality of those images and is capable of accepting or rejecting those images created by system 1 (Gandhi, 2018). This ultimately allows the algorithm to judge its own work, learning from it and being able to continuously improve its content.

This leads to the logical question: If creativity is a defining feature that solely applies to humans, how can an algorithm be considered creative given that it is solely a collection of wires and transistors. Well, ultimately a human brain is a collection of nerves and synapse that build a complex system. Hence, if humans can be creative, why not machines?

So, what does this mean? Well assuming that creativity is a human feature may be naïve. I do believe that machines can express degrees of creativity as they have done in the past as AlphaGo, Klingemann’s work and many other examples have demonstrated. Machines may have the potential to redefine of what it means to be creative, and as Klingemann puts it – AI may ultimately liberate us.

Sources:

Yahoo.com. (2018). Algorithm art fetches $432,500 at NY auction: Christie’s. [online] [Accessed 18 Sep. 2019].

Gandhi, R. (2018). Generative Adversarial Networks — Explained. [online] Towards Data Science. [Accessed 18 Sep. 2019].

Klingemann, M. (2019). Quasimondo | Mario Klingemann, Artist working with Code, AI and Data. [online] Quasimondo.com. [Accessed 18 Sep. 2019].

Obvious-art.com. (2019). Obvious Art. [online] Available at: https://obvious-art.com/about-us.html [Accessed 18 Sep. 2019].