Humans are being replaced by machines in the food supply chain — and it's leading to truckloads of waste

A researcher explores how AI is being used to optimize food delivery, which may not always be a good thing. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. 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Sign up for our skywatching newsletter and explore the universe with us!Join the clubGet full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards.Supermarket shelves can look full despite the food systems underneath them being under strain. Fruit may be stacked neatly, chilled meat may be in place. It appears that supply chains are functioning well. But appearances can be deceiving.Today, food moves through supply chains because it is recognized by databases, platforms and automated approval systems. If a digital system cannot confirm a shipment, the food cannot be released, insured, sold, or legally distributed. In practical terms, food that cannot be "seen" digitally becomes unusable.This affects the resilience of the UK food system , and is increasingly identified as a critical vulnerability.Look at the consequences, for example, when recent cyberattacks on grocery and food distribution networks disrupted operations at multiple major US grocery chains. This took online ordering and other digital systems down and delayed deliveries even though physical stocks were available.Part of the problem here is that key decisions are made by automated or opaque systems that cannot be easily explained or challenged. Manual backups are also being removed in the name of efficiency.This digital shift is happening around the world, in supermarkets and in farming, and has delivered efficiency gains, but it has also intensified structural pressures across logistics and transport, particularly in supply chains which are set up to deliver at the last minute.AI and data-driven systems now shape decisions across agriculture and food delivery. They are used to forecast demand, optimize planting, prioritize shipments, and manage inventories. Official reviews of the use of AI across production, processing, and distribution show that these tools are now embedded across most stages of the UK food system. But there are risks.Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.When decisions about food allocation cannot be explained or reviewed, authority shifts away from human judgment and into software rules. Put simply, businesses are choosing automation over humans to save time and cut costs. As a result, decisions about food movement and access are increasingly made by systems that people cannot easily question or override.This has already started to happen. During the 2021 ransomware attack on JBS Foods, meat processing facilities halted operations despite animals, staff, and infrastructure being present. Although some Australian farmers were able to override the systems, there were widespread problems. More recently, disruptions affecting large distributors have shown how system failures can interrupt deliveries to shops even if goods are available.A significant issue is fewer people managing these issues, and staff training. Manual procedures are classified as costly and gradually abandoned. Staff are no longer trained for overrides they are never expected to perform. When failure occurs, the skills required to intervene may no longer exist.This vulnerability is compounded by persistent workforce and skills shortages, which affect transport, warehousing and public health inspection. Even when digital systems recover, the human ability to restart flows may be limited.The risk is not only that systems fail, but that when they do, disruption spreads quickly. This can be understood as a stress test rather than a prediction. Authorization systems may freeze. Trucks are loaded, but release codes fail. Drivers wait. Food is present, but movement is not approved.Based on previous incidents within days digital records and physical reality can begin to diverge. Inventory systems no longer match what is on shelves. After about 72 hours, manual intervention is required. Yet paper procedures have often been removed, and staff are not trained to use them.—Scientists have built an AI-powered 'electronic tongue'—AI-powered humanoid robot can serve you food, stack the dishes — and have a conversation with you—Man sought diet advice from ChatGPT and ended up with dangerous 'bromism' syndromeThese patterns are consistent with evidence from UK food system vulnerability analyses, which emphasize that resilience failures are often organizational rather than agricultural.Food security is often framed as a question of supply. But there is also a question of authorization. If a digital manifest is corrupted, shipments may not be released.This matters in a country like the UK that relies heavily on imports and complex logistics. Resilience depends not only on trade flows, but on the governance of data and decision-making in food systems, research on food security suggests.This edited article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.Mohammed F. Alzuhair is a candidate for a doctorate in business administration at Durham UniversityYou must confirm your public display name before commentingPlease logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.