Tech companies and AI farming tools are “playing with the food system”, the think tank warns

Leading food security experts warned that tech companies and industrial agriculture are “gaming with the food system” by using AI and algorithms to undermine farmers’ food choices.

According to a report from the think tank International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food), companies such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, IBM and Alibaba are working with industrial agriculture companies to influence which crops are grown and how.

The result, experts say, is a “top-down” approach to farming systems in which large companies tell farmers what to grow, often focusing on the most productive and profitable crops.

“Companies are gambling with the food system, and we can’t afford to gamble with it,” said Pat Mooney, a Canadian author and agriculture expert who contributed to the “Head in the Cloud” report, adding that these companies typically focus on just five crops: corn, rice, wheat, soybeans and potatoes.

“Your advice will be:…