11 Aug 2025 Riding the AI wave

At the recent IFT FIRST congress in Chicago, one of the keynote speakers was AI fundi and futurist, Steve Brown…..

The AI era is unquestionably here, and it’s advancing at lightning speed. In this IFT Omnivore podcast episode, Brown discusses the unprecedented opportunities that AI offers, its benefits for the global food system, and why it’s important to embrace its new technologies with a mindset of curiosity instead of fear.

A former executive at Google DeepMind and Intel, and best-selling author of The Innovation Ultimatum: How Six Strategic Technologies Will Reshape Every Business in the 2020s, Brown brings a rare front-line perspective to one of the most important technological shifts of our time.

He talks about AI’s current capabilities, what’s coming next, and how food and beverage professionals can position themselves and their businesses to thrive in an AI-powered world.

“You won’t be replaced by AI — you’ll be replaced by a person who knows how to use AI.” – Steve Brown

Click on the graphic to hear the interview….

The same episode also features and interview with University of Toronto professor emeritus Levente Diosady.

Nicknamed The Iron Man by the media, he is best known for creating double-fortified salt, or DFS — a simple but powerful innovation designed to fight iron and iodine deficiencies. Diosady is the recipient of IFT’s 2025 “Lifetime Achievement Award in Honor of Nicolas Appert”, in recognition of how he turned an everyday product into a lifesaving tool that now supports the health of millions.

Source: IFT.com