Description
THE CHALLENGE
The one constant across the global food safety landscape is that it is ever-changing. New pathogens emerge, the supply chains gains complexity, and regulatory and environmental systems continue to influence and affect consumer perception, health, and safety.
Traditional approaches are quickly becoming dwarved by volumes of data, the speed of emerging threats, and a pressing need for innovative solutions to unprecedented problems. We need to augment human creativity with powerful new tools to think differently and act faster.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) isn’t here to replace food safety professionals because it can’t. AI isn’t creative. It has no feelings or experiences. It only has data; events and measurements that happened in the past and that it averages to make a best guess. But data is where it excels and where humans don’t.
By contrast, what is it distinctly human is our ability to think critically and creatively – synthesizing notions and concepts that are seemingly disparate, and to come up with solutions so novel that a machine could never imagine.
Therefore, we collectively need to move theoretical discussions of “AI good/AI bad” to provide a hands-on, practical experience demonstrating how these readily available tools can accelerate our creative processes and meet impending food safety challenges.
LAB AGENDA
Attendees get an accelerated introduction to the foundations of creative problem solving. Using popular tools like Gemini and ChatGPT, they learn what stages of the creative process energize them, and which drain, and how to use AI to minimize those that sap them of enthusiasm.
Participants work on realistic food safety scenarios, individually and in small groups. The groups will share insights, surprises, and potential applications through facilitated post-discussions.
In this way, we move beyond debates over hype and get practical, hands-on experience with AI tools relevant to their job roles and daily challenges.
This workshop is ideal for food safety directors, quality assurance (QA) managers, auditors, regulators, researchers, plant managers, and supply chain specialists, and gives them the opportunity to address lingering or unspoken concerns. There are questions they’ve been too afraid to ask or too confused about how to properly research it, such as “Will AI replace me,” “Is it too complex for me,” and “How reliable is the data?”
Finally, there will be resources that include a curated list of accessible AI tools, prompt engineering tips for food safety applications, and key considerations for implementation.
Attendees will gain confidence and practical skills to make AI a collaborative, creative partner, and improve their ability to protect consumers and advance the integrity of the global food supply chain.
LAB FACILITATOR
Richard Fleming from Sage Media, a certified FourSight expert in creative innovation who has designed food safety culture programs that have solved complex issues for companies like Hershey, Starbucks, and Costco.
