For customers tired of its usual offerings of rice balls and egg sandos, Lawson has turned to generative AI to develop products in a slightly bizarre bid to provide them with more “unconventional” flavor combinations.
The Japanese convenience store chain has announced it will be launching a line of food items conceived by artificial intelligence starting September 29 at limited locations primarily in the Kanto/Koushinetsu region, as part of an effort to use generative AI to develop new products. All products were created by having the AI generate the ideas, and product developers then refined them through repeated prototyping and testing. While the use of AI at the convenience store chain has been reported in the past, this marks the first time Lawson has used the tech to produce and market a product.
The three newly offered items Lawson revealed were the “Pickle-flavored Lemon Tarts”, “Red bean paste, Butter, and Yogurt-filled Sakadane Bread Rolls”, and the “Japanese-style Parfait Salad”. According to Lawson’s press release, the generative AI used to create ideas was deliberately not fed past sales performance statistics or market data. The statement explained that this was done in order to draw out ideas “unbound by existing concepts or market trends”, ensuring that the final product has been moderated and tested by a human development team.
Lawson additionally stated that customer feedback, sales projections, and market data taken from the release of these products may lead the company to consider expanding on the “AI-based” product line in the future.
FamilyMart, another major convenience store chain, has also applied AI recently, but with a different approach. According to a Tokyo News Media reporting, the chain announced that an AI designed French-style canelé dessert pastry made with sweet potato puree and caramel sauce is now available. The company has previously experimented with the use of AI in product development, producing a biscuit sandwich filled with milk cream in July, which the company has reported to be a success in its eyes, leading to the continuation of the concept. FamilyMart prospects aim to release 10 new AI-generated products by the end of the year.
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