Samsung to Expand Connected Kitchen Efforts With AI Food Recommendations

Samsung is looking to cement its role in consumers’ day-to-day food routines, gearing up to launch an artificial intelligence (AI) food recommendation platform.

The South Korea-based company will introduce its “Samsung Food” technology at IFA 2023, a global consumer electronics trade fair held in Berlin in early September, according to a Wednesday (Aug. 23) announcement.

The technology will enable consumers to search and store recipes, offer smart meal planning recommendations and ingredient management features, and allow content sharing with other users, per the announcement.

Additionally, the platform integrates with Samsung’s smart appliances, which allows for connected capabilities such as automatically setting the oven to the correct temperature or programming the proper microwave settings, the announcement said.

“We look forward to serving as a ‘nutritionist in the palm of your hand’ and providing a highly personalized eating experience,’” Chanwoo Park, Samsung Electronics executive vice president of the home appliances division, said in the announcement (as translated by Google).

The move enables Samsung to strengthen its presence in consumers’ everyday lives. PYMNTS research from a survey of more than 4,600 consumers, found that people spend, on average, 1.83 hours every weekday and 2.08 hours a day on weekends eating.

By integrating this AI with its kitchen devices, Samsung also encourages the adoption of its appliances, creating a connected ecosystem that extends from the beginning of consumers’ meal planning routines to the end of the cooking process.

Connected home device ownership is becoming increasingly common. Findings from PYMNTS’ study “The ConnectedEconomy™ Monthly Report: The Evolving Digital Daily Edition” showed a 31% year-over-year increase in the share of people using smart home devices. All told, 41% of consumers reported participating in activities involving some type of smart home device.

Samsung is not the only technology company looking to deepen its relationships with consumers by offering meal planning tools to drive daily or weekly engagement. Grocery aggregator Instacart announced in May that it is combining its own AI and data with OpenAI’s ChatGPT technology to roll out Ask Instacart, a search feature designed to provide personalized recommendations and answers to questions.

“[W]ith the rapid innovation in generative AI, we believe we can create new personalized, inspirational, value-driven shopping experiences that enrich peoples’ relationship with food and how they engage with the retailers and brands they love,” Instacart Chief Architect JJ Zhuang wrote in a blog post announcing the rollout.

Instacart has the advantage of integrating its recommendations with its marketplace but not with consumers’ home appliances, while Samsung’s AI will be connected with its appliances but not with its own eCommerce platform.

Once the technology is in place and the kinks have been worked out, connected kitchens could prove highly popular among consumers seeking more convenient home cooking options.

In an interview with PYMNTS, Ben Harris, CEO and co-founder of connected cooking platform Fresco, noted that the company intends to make cooking so easy that consumers will choose the option over prepared meals or takeout.

“We see ourselves as competing with an Uber Eats or frozen pizza,” Harris said in April. “We need to make sure the rewards are greater, but the effort is minimized as well, to make sure that it’s an easy choice to decide to cook.”