FOR the first time a pie has been made with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Worthing company Piglet’s Pantry, which supplies pies to Brighton and Hove Albion and other businesses across the country, has used AI to help them make a brand new dish.

The Veggie Spiral Pie was made at the company but is the brainchild of a computer programme developed by the company Esme Loans.

And Piglet’s founder Joanna Hunter said that it was an unusual experience working with the AI on the pie.

She said: “It’s a new way of coming up with recipe ideas.

“I was quite sceptical, I feel like we are intelligent enough to come up with our own recipes.

“But sometimes we can be single-minded.

“It was almost arrogant to think that I would know more recipes than a computer.”

Joanna said the machine did need some human assistance when coming up with recipes, and at first did not quite know how to mix ingredients.

She said: “They algorithms were programmed and the machine was fed algorithms and information about us, as humans, and what we like.

“Some of the ideas it came up with at first were strange, like chocolate and vegetable pie.

“But the ones we have now aren’t such silly ideas.”

As well as the vegetable spiral pie, the AI also came up with recipes for scotch egg pie, curried chicken pie, pear and blackberry crostata (an Italian baked tart).

The vegetable spiral is the only pie that the pantry in Willowbrook Road has tested out so far, but they are hoping to have a go at the others in the future. Joanna believes AI has a big part to play in the future of food.

She said: “You could tell the AI your health issues and have it tell you what diet works best for you. We haven’t got far enough yet to have a robot making our pie – although I’m sure we’re not far off.”