At Talent Land 2025 I presented "Quantum Bites: how AI and quantum computing are creating the food of the future". The topic sounds distant until you see the number holding it up: there are more of us every year, we eat more protein every year, and producing it the way we do today doesn't hold.
The underlying problem
Protein is an essential part of the human diet and the world population keeps growing. The two sources we know carry their own limits:
Animal protein — meat, poultry, fish, eggs and dairy. Sustainability and animal-welfare problems
Plant protein — legumes, grains, nuts and seeds. Nutritional limitations and allergies
On top of that, three pressures squeezing at once:
Environmental impact: deforestation, emissions, water and energy consumption
Food insecurity: unequal access to quality protein
The consumer changed: they now ask for sustainable, healthy and ethical products
Proteins 2.0: where our food will come from
Cell-based
Lab-cultivated meat: animal stem cells are obtained and grown in a controlled environment. It removes the need to raise and slaughter animals.
Microbial
Yeasts, algae and bacteria producing protein through fermentation. It's the path with the most immediate applications in the food industry.
Insect-based
Crickets, mealworms and black soldier fly larvae, among others. Worth remembering that this isn't a futuristic curiosity: it's traditional food in a great many cultures, Mexican included.
Where artificial intelligence comes in
In three very concrete places.
1. Designing the protein, not just finding it
This is the big leap. AI makes it possible to predict and design proteins with specific properties: a particular taste, a certain texture, a given nutritional value. We go from searching among what exists to writing what we want.
The process, in four steps:
Collect data on natural proteins and their structure
Use optimization algorithms to generate amino-acid sequences that meet concrete goals: stability, activity, solubility
Synthesize those proteins experimentally
Analyze structure, function and properties with biochemical and biological techniques
2. Optimizing production
Monitoring and quality control with machine learning to detect anomalies, automate inspections and reduce waste. Less glamorous than designing proteins, and probably where the most immediate savings are.
3. Shortening the development cycle
Every iteration of a new food costs time and money. Simulating before synthesizing cuts that cycle, which is the difference between a product that reaches the market and one that stays in the lab.
And the quantum part
Here it's worth being honest about timelines. Protein folding is an optimization problem with an enormous possibility space, the kind where quantum computing promises real advantage. The promise is serious; the calendar isn't there yet. Today the heavy lifting is done by classical models, and quantum is the ten-year bet, not Monday's tool.
Saying it that way matters: this field has plenty of enthusiasm and very little nuance.
Why I got into this
This is where BioQuantech came from, one of the projects I build: a platform bringing together biotechnology, artificial intelligence and quantum computing for protein design. It isn't a topic I stumbled onto while preparing a talk; the talk came out of the topic.
Frequently asked questions
What are proteins 2.0?
The alternative protein sources replacing or complementing animal and plant protein: cell-based (cultivated meat), microbial (yeasts, algae, bacteria) and insect-based.
How does AI help produce food?
On three fronts: designing proteins with specific taste, texture and nutritional properties; optimizing production through automated quality control and waste reduction; and shortening the development cycle by simulating before synthesizing.
Is quantum computing already used in food?
Not productively yet. Protein folding and design is a natural candidate for quantum advantage, but today the work is done by classical AI models. It's a long-term bet, not an available tool.
Who gave this talk and where?
John Olven (Jonathan Olvera) at Talent Land México 2025, Guadalajara, in April 2025.