January 27, 2026
From Data to Dinner: The AI-driven Food Decisions That Must Scale
“Don't attempt to scale AI; attempt to scale your decision first and pick that high-stakes decision. AI gives you a gift and a choice. The gift is that of time, and the choice is: what are we going to do with it?” I felt that Shail Khiyara’s words captured the tone for our Gulfood 2026 panel discussion on “Break-Through Technologies and AI-Powered Automations: Strategic Value Creators for an Intelligent Food System.” His words stayed with me long after he spoke.
Sitting alongside Shail Khiyara, CEO of Swarm, Marc Oshima, CEO of Oshima Good Food and Dr. Grace S. Thomson, Director of the AI Policy Clinics at the Center for AI & Digital Policy (CAIDP), I found myself not just contributing to a panel, but actively learning from three very different but deeply informed perspectives on how AI is reshaping food systems. The conversation was fast-paced yet grounded, moving from lofty ideas to practical realities that food businesses, policymakers, and technologists must confront today.
Very early in the discussion, three core questions emerged and anchored our exchange:
The second question—what responsible AI looks like in practice—brought in the invaluable expertise of Dr. Grace Thomson. She highlighted that, in food systems, AI does not operate in a vacuum; it operates within existing regulatory frameworks, cross-border trade rules, and public expectations around safety, privacy, and fairness. I think the point she was making was that compliance is not the ceiling; it is the floor. I agreed with her contention that what we need is “a triple helix—cooperation between government, enterprise, and research and development universities”—to translate breakthrough innovations that are trustworthy to the market. We explored how this translates into explainable risk models, transparent data practices, and governance structures that include diverse stakeholders, from farmers to consumer advocates.
The third question—how to actually scale—was where all our worlds intersected. We spoke about the familiar pattern in this space: pilots that generate slide decks, not system change. Scaling, we agreed, requires three conditions to come together: clear business ownership of a specific decision, robust and interoperable data infrastructure, and a governance framework that can evolve as models and markets change. I shared how, in our own work, we see the real inflection point when AI is embedded into the workflows of traders, farmers, and logistics teams, so that the algorithm disappears into the background and better decisions just become the new normal, regardless of the user’s familiarity with AI.
What made this session particularly meaningful for me was how complementary the perspectives were: a founder-builder’s bias for action, a food entrepreneur’s commitment to nutrition and access, a policy expert’s insistence on rights and safeguards, and my own focus on market infrastructure and data flows. Rather than competing, these lenses converged into a shared understanding that AI is a means, not an end; its real promise lies in orchestrating better decisions across the length of the food value chain.
All of this was amplified by the setting itself. Gulfood 2026 has clearly raised the bar in how it curates conversations around technology, sustainability, and trade in the food sector. The professionalism of the organizing teams and the diversity of stakeholders in the room created an environment where we could be both ambitious and candid. Walking out of the session, I felt not just energized but also more accountable—to use the “gift of time” that AI offers us to build food systems that are smarter, fairer, and more resilient for everyone.
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Afzal Hussain Mohammed Nakheeb was on the panel of speakers for the “Break-Through Technologies and AI-Powered Automations: Strategic Value Creators for an Intelligent Food System” session at Gulfood 2026 on January 26, 2026.
Sitting alongside Shail Khiyara, CEO of Swarm, Marc Oshima, CEO of Oshima Good Food and Dr. Grace S. Thomson, Director of the AI Policy Clinics at the Center for AI & Digital Policy (CAIDP), I found myself not just contributing to a panel, but actively learning from three very different but deeply informed perspectives on how AI is reshaping food systems. The conversation was fast-paced yet grounded, moving from lofty ideas to practical realities that food businesses, policymakers, and technologists must confront today.
Very early in the discussion, three core questions emerged and anchored our exchange:
- ·How do we ensure that AI in food systems creates real value, not just more data and dashboards?
- ·What does “responsible” or “trustworthy” AI actually look like in agriculture and food supply chains?
- How can we move from pilots and proofs-of-concept to scaled, system-level transformation without losing sight of farmers, consumers, and regulators?
The second question—what responsible AI looks like in practice—brought in the invaluable expertise of Dr. Grace Thomson. She highlighted that, in food systems, AI does not operate in a vacuum; it operates within existing regulatory frameworks, cross-border trade rules, and public expectations around safety, privacy, and fairness. I think the point she was making was that compliance is not the ceiling; it is the floor. I agreed with her contention that what we need is “a triple helix—cooperation between government, enterprise, and research and development universities”—to translate breakthrough innovations that are trustworthy to the market. We explored how this translates into explainable risk models, transparent data practices, and governance structures that include diverse stakeholders, from farmers to consumer advocates.
The third question—how to actually scale—was where all our worlds intersected. We spoke about the familiar pattern in this space: pilots that generate slide decks, not system change. Scaling, we agreed, requires three conditions to come together: clear business ownership of a specific decision, robust and interoperable data infrastructure, and a governance framework that can evolve as models and markets change. I shared how, in our own work, we see the real inflection point when AI is embedded into the workflows of traders, farmers, and logistics teams, so that the algorithm disappears into the background and better decisions just become the new normal, regardless of the user’s familiarity with AI.
What made this session particularly meaningful for me was how complementary the perspectives were: a founder-builder’s bias for action, a food entrepreneur’s commitment to nutrition and access, a policy expert’s insistence on rights and safeguards, and my own focus on market infrastructure and data flows. Rather than competing, these lenses converged into a shared understanding that AI is a means, not an end; its real promise lies in orchestrating better decisions across the length of the food value chain.
All of this was amplified by the setting itself. Gulfood 2026 has clearly raised the bar in how it curates conversations around technology, sustainability, and trade in the food sector. The professionalism of the organizing teams and the diversity of stakeholders in the room created an environment where we could be both ambitious and candid. Walking out of the session, I felt not just energized but also more accountable—to use the “gift of time” that AI offers us to build food systems that are smarter, fairer, and more resilient for everyone.
____
Afzal Hussain Mohammed Nakheeb was on the panel of speakers for the “Break-Through Technologies and AI-Powered Automations: Strategic Value Creators for an Intelligent Food System” session at Gulfood 2026 on January 26, 2026.
