AI: A Tool, Not a Cure-All in Future Supplement Formulation

The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has brought a revolution in various industries, including the supplement industry. AI is progressing beyond mere buzzwords and becoming an operational reality for almost every sector globally. The biggest opportunities for innovation are still being explored by supplement makers, especially whether AI can formulate new products.

Tony Van Campen, co-founder of Belgium-based Biomdrin, an AI/machine learning platform that claims to develop cutting-edge nutraceuticals that prevent disease, believes that AI can indeed formulate new products. According to him, Biomdrin's AI tool examines millions of possible interactions between human genes and protein expressions from a database containing around 70k known ingredients. It also reviews all research and publications done on these ingredients to create formulations, which humans then evaluate for trial and development.

Akash Shah's IngredientAI platform does something similar but stops short at formulation. As per Shah, his upcoming offering will be a tool that formulators use rather than replacing them entirely.

However, there are differing viewpoints as well regarding the capabilities of AI in formulating supplements. Sebastian Balcombe, a medicinal chemist who founded ingredient innovation-focused Specnova, sees it differently; he argues that the machine learning technology used by companies like Biomdrin isn't exactly innovative but has been commonplace in pharmaceuticals since years ago.

Balcombe doesn’t dismiss AI altogether; he uses it to analyze large amounts of data, but cautions against overstating its abilities. He criticizes both tech companies and popular media alike for hyping up what they claim are groundbreaking advancements in using artificial intelligence while ignoring their limitations or exaggerating their capabilities.

Chris Lockwood from Nutrabolt points out another potential pitfall: simply linking citations could lead formulators down incorrect paths without proper analysis from experienced professionals who can separate good studies from bad ones based on robustness and risk factors associated with supporting claims through these studies.

Despite varying opinions about how much impact artificial intelligence truly has on supplement formulation, many agree that human creativity and judgment still play integral roles in the process. Balcombe believes AI lacks the element of human inspiration, which has led to impactful innovations in their industry.

However, it's clear that AI presents opportunities for accelerating the formulation process by analyzing vast amounts of data quickly and efficiently. Shah’s IngredientAI is an example of how AI can assist humans by doing time-consuming tasks such as reading numerous research papers to extract useful information.

But even with these advancements, there are concerns about potential misuse or misunderstanding of what 'AI-formulated' products truly mean. The term could easily be used for marketing purposes without accurately reflecting the product's development process or efficacy. As a result, consumers might be misled into thinking they're getting something more innovative than it really is.

Regardless, no one dismisses artificial intelligence outright; all seem to agree that it does have a place in supplements as a tool for helping analyze large volumes of data mechanically and mathematically.

In conclusion, while AI certainly holds promise for improving efficiency and innovation in supplement formulation, at present, its role appears limited to assisting rather than replacing human formulators. Despite this limitation, however, there seems little doubt regarding its potential impact on future developments within this industry.