Gianfranco Sampò, owner of a Milan gelateria, is using artificial intelligence to suggest novel gelato flavour combinations and demonstrated an AI-designed cone at a trade fair, the BBC and Repubblica report.
Sampò told the BBC’s Travel Show that he has combined cutting-edge prompts with traditional gelato technique to “inspire unexpected recipes and taste combinations,” and the video profile shows him asking AI to craft bespoke flavours around a visitor’s tastes.
Repubblica reports Sampò presented “the first cone created with artificial intelligence” at the Sigep trade fair in Rimini, describing how an algorithm helped choose a surprise ingredient for the recipe.
That demonstration was framed by the Travel Show visit: the BBC’s piece says the programme travelled to Italy to meet Sampò and filmed him testing AI prompts in the shop, showing the tools used to generate inspiration rather than replacing artisanal production.
Artificial intelligence in Sampò’s shop acts as an idea engine: the sources describe staff using AI prompts to explore combinations they then test by hand in the kitchen. Both accounts emphasise that traditional gelato technique remains central while AI supplies unconventional pairings.
This case joins a wider set of experiments where chefs and small producers use AI to generate creative prompts. Sampò’s public demonstration at a major trade fair made the experiment visible to industry visitors and to international audiences when the BBC featured his gelateria in its Travel Show segment.
For business readers, the episode shows a small food maker adopting artificial intelligence to broaden product development without abandoning artisanal methods — a practical example of AI used as a creative tool rather than an automated production system.
Sources
- BBC — Travel Show video profiling Gianfranco Sampò and his use of AI to create new gelato flavours.
- La Repubblica — report that Sampò presented the first AI-designed gelato cone at the Sigep trade fair and how the ingredient was chosen.
