IFF launches AI-Powered Concept Muse platform
The platform combines generative AI with consumer insights, flavor expertise and market intelligence to produce product narratives, visual mockups and potential formulation technologies within minutes.
USA – International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) has launched Concept Muse, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platform designed to help food and beverage (F&B) manufacturers identify market opportunities and accelerate new product development using consumer insights, market intelligence and technical expertise.
The global food, fragrance and bioscience company said the proprietary platform uses generative AI alongside its consumer insights, flavor expertise and market intelligence to transform simple prompts into potential product concepts.
Concept Muse generates product narratives, visual mockups and suggested technologies, providing manufacturers with starting points for exploring new formulations and identifying emerging market opportunities.
The launch comes as F&B manufacturers face growing pressure to respond to changing consumer preferences while shortening product innovation timelines. Identifying relevant trends and translating them into commercially viable products often requires extensive research and development.
IFF said Concept Muse is designed to reduce the time between initial inspiration and concept development, potentially compressing processes that would traditionally take weeks into minutes.
“Food and beverage innovation has always been a balance of art and science. Now digital transformation is adding a powerful new dimension to that equation,” said Benjamin Mattei, vice president of intelligence and digital transformation for IFF Taste.
“Concept Muse is where AI meets human imagination to unlock new possibilities. It helps accelerate innovation, translate insights into exciting new concepts, and enables manufacturers to push beyond conventional thinking,” Mattei added.
IFF said the platform is intended to complement human expertise rather than replace specialists involved in product development. Its generated concepts are designed to be evaluated and refined by experts based on technical feasibility, market relevance and potential for further development.
Mimi Sherlock, vice president of global human futures for IFF Taste, said the platform’s effectiveness depends on the expertise used to guide its development and assess its outputs.
“The value of Concept Muse does not come from simply pressing ‘generate’. It comes from the expertise behind it: how IFF experts frame the challenge, select the right inputs, critically evaluate the outputs, and continuously refine the results. It is human-guided, not on autopilot,” Sherlock explained.
“AI expands the range of possibilities, while human intelligence provides relevance, credibility, and direction,” she added.
Concept Muse forms part of IFF’s broader investment in digital technologies designed to strengthen customer collaboration and support innovation across the F&B industry.
Another recent development is Kaleido Immersive Spaces, an immersive environment that connects customers with technical experts through visual storytelling and sensory experiences involving taste and aroma.
Through these initiatives, IFF is expanding its use of digital tools to support collaboration, concept development and product innovation.
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