Artificial intelligence selects desired meal combinations of main and side dishes and soup ﷯on Ajinomoto Co.'s free recipe website. | AJINOMOTO CO. / VIA KYODO

Business / Tech

What's for dinner? On redesigned Ajinomoto recipe website, AI makes the call

Kyodo

Ajinomoto Co. has launched a service on its redesigned recipe website in which artificial intelligence identifies desirable meal combinations after users pick a main or side dish that looks appealing.

The seasoning- and food-maker announced customers can now choose an image of a dish on the Ajinomoto Park site, after which AI will suggest two more dishes (including soup) from its database of around 10,000 recipes based on factors including nutritional balance.

The site also explains how to cook the dishes.

Customers can look for recipes based on various factors, such as health consciousness and cooking time requirements, the company said Monday. The AI also takes the time of year into consideration when offering food combinations.

Before revamping the site, employees selected dish combinations for customers from around 1,000 recipes, but the company decided to utilize AI to improve productivity.

Ajinomoto said a survey it conducted found that around 76 percent of people feel it is burdensome to find the right combination of dishes for their meals.

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