Reynolds opened his speech by stating: “For centuries chefs have been the artist of the culinary world, they’ve transformed simple ingredients into unforgettable experiences, using intuition, creativity, new ways of plating, and a deep understanding of flavour, but now a new sous chef has entered the kitchen and its name is AI.

“When most people think of AI, they picture in their mind’s robots, self-driving cars or chatbots, but in my world the culinary world AI is becoming one of the most powerful tools a chef can have and use. AI isn’t here to replace chefs it’s here to enhance them.”

He spoke about his trip to Italy where he visited a factory designing ovens with built in AI. The oven was filled with different types of vegetables from Broccoli to cauliflower, carrots and sweetcorn. Using AI, the oven cooked all the vegetables perfectly by using different temperatures and timings.

Reynolds noted that AI was not de-skilling chefs but it gives them the time to prioritise other jobs in the kitchen.

He added: “It also allows a cook for example in a school kitchen or care home the opportunity to up skill by cooking vegetables properly that will help retain their nutritional values and please the end user by having vegetables cooked properly and not overcooked.

“AI tools can take on the repetitive data heavy tasks, calculating nutrition, calculating your carbon footprint, reducing waste and optimizing supply chains freeing chefs to focus on what they do best create great tasting food.”

During the speech, Reynolds pointed out that AI can analyse thousands of recipes, suggest new flavour pairings no-one has ever tried before, predict ingredient shortages as well as helping plan menus sustainably and reduce food waste. He did point out however that AI could not ‘live and breathe the passion of a chef’.

At the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Reynolds and his team have taken the revenue from £15m to £55m in just six years. He said AI could be used to highlight what food items were best sellers at different times when football games were on. He pointed out NFL were more lucrative that football games as there was a longer dwell time for customers.

Reynolds said: “In some of our other stadiums we use walk in walk out units powered by amazon but allows the fan to make their own choices of food and beverage which is then charged straight to their account it helps us with speed of service and a reduction of staff.

“The information we capture from the cameras is kept on file for up to six months and it accurately tracks peoples hand movements so if you choose and item and then put it back it will recognise that and won’t take the payment for the item.”

He added AI powered kitchen robots can handle high volume repetitive tasks like grilling burgers, frying or even pouring drinks. Reynolds witnessed some of these robots at the Samsung head office in South Korea recently which worked clean and efficiently.

Concluding his speech, Reynolds explained: “As we move forward the question isn’t will AI replace chefs but rather how will chefs lead the kitchen with AI at their side, the future of cooking is not man or machine it’s a collaboration where technology amplifies creativity and data meets delicious.

“We can use AI robots with automated cooking giving is consistency and safely reducing human error, it can help us with precision portioning with AI powered weighing and dispensing systems so we can ensure we have accurate portioning and help reduce waste.

“Let’s not see AI as competition in the kitchen but as a collaboration, it’s a way to combine data with creativity, science with seasoning, precision with passion. Because in football and in food it’s the intelligent blend of technology and human artistry that wins the game.”