Visualize this scene: warehouses full of products, but where food could not be put on shelves because a computer system does not recognize it. This situation, previously unlikely, is becoming more and more likely with the accelerated digitization of our food system and the integration of artificial intelligence.
Automated processes now make crucial decisions about the flow of goods, creating a dependency whose robustness can sometimes be called into question.
Now, the entire supply chain relies on digital platforms to authenticate each phase. A truck of fruit cannot be unloaded without electronic authorization, and a product lacking a digital identity becomes almost invisible to the market. This transformation, corroborated by official reports such as the one on food security from the United Kingdom, provides notable efficiency but also creates unprecedented fragility.
Several events have already demonstrated the consequences of this weakness. Cyberattacks targeting food distributors in the United States blocked online orders and delayed deliveries, while physical stocks were available. The ransomware attack against JBS Foods in 2021 also forced the shutdown of plants, despite the presence of livestock and staff. These episodes show how a software failure can suddenly cut off access to food.
An aggravating factor is the gradual erosion of human skills allowing manual intervention. Manual backup procedures are increasingly abandoned, or staff are less and less trained to use them. Combined with labor shortages in the transportation and warehouse sectors, these gaps make the system less capable of reacting to a malfunction. After approximately seventy-two hours of outage, human intervention becomes essential, but it may not be possible.
The main issue is not the use of artificial intelligence itself, but the degree of control we maintain over it.