Artificial intelligence (AI) is the discipline that deals with the development of software systems – and hardware – able to interact with the surrounding environment, acquire and interpret data, make decisions based on the data collected, for a predetermined goal even if the situations are not expressly foreseen.
The recent developments in AI have taken place in the area of machine learning which allows the processing of enormous amounts of data and forms of learning based on exposure to experiential forms. AI is not the expression of a single technology but it is part of a wider technological ecosystem in which it is developed and implemented (technology stack).
Artificial intelligence can be also applied in the agri-food sector. AI technologies are used, for example, to improve agricultural yield, through the real-time analysis of huge amounts of data and the creation of increasingly accurate predictive models, through the installation of low-cost sensors in the fields for monitor the production system and take immediate action on risk factors. AI also used in the field of quality, certification and agri-food traceability and also for the protection of Made in Italy against illegal competition with counterfeit products.
Within the research institutes of DiSBA, there are numerous research groups that operate through AI technologies, in particular, in the disciplines of bioinformatics and molecular biology (Institute of Agricultural Biology and Biotechnology -IBBA), nanosensor system (Institute of Biosciences and Bioresources - IBBR), precision agriculture (Institute of Bioeconomy -IBE), geomatics and digital Earth (Institute of Bioeconomy -IBE), optical biosensors (Institute of Food Sciences - ISA), bioinformatics and food omics (Institute of Production Sciences food - lSPA).
DiSBA also participates in the National Doctorate on Artificial Intelligence (PhD-AI.it) - coordinated by the CNR and the University of Pisa - systematizing its skills in the area of specialization “agrifood and environment”.
