If you’re the kind of person that doesn't want to keep tabs on the contents of your fridge, and need a machine to do all that exhausting work for you, then you might want to take note. Samsung has announced a new partnership with Instacart, allowing your fridge to prompt you to order more groceries if it thinks you’re running low.
That’s not all. You’ll also be able to do all that Instacart shopping from your Samsung Bespoke Smart Fridge, including a brand new model that’s set to debut at CES 2025. That one comes with a 9-inch display that is apparently going to prominently feature one specific grocery delivery company in your kitchen.
The actual legwork is being done by the Samsung Vision AI, and its food recognition tech. That way it can scan the contents of your fridge and analyze what’s there to figure out what you’re running low on.
Apparently the combination of interior cameras and on-device AI lets the fridge recognize “up to 37” different kinds of food, including fresh fruit and vegetables. Anything that can’t be automatically recognized can be manually added via the Samsung Food app, either on your fridge or phone.
I wonder whether the feature is only as effective as the consistency of what you keep in the fridge. I know my fridge’s innards fluctuate wildly from week to week, and I feel like I’d be much better off having an AI keeping tabs on the contents of my freezer instead. There’s an idea for you, Samsung, a smart freezer. And if you’re going to pursue that idea I'd appreciate a system that makes defrosting a lot less inconvenient.
But I digress. Vision AI then links up with the Instacart API, suggesting items that it thinks you might need. The system is also capable of adding ingredients from saved recipes to your shopping cart, and automatically update your grocery list once you place an order.
Thankfully, it sounds like the actual ordering has to be done yourself. I’ve never been a fan of letting machines do my shopping for me, and I’m probably not the only one that wants to do some price comparisons before I checkout. I’m not loyal to any specific app or supermarket, only the one that offers the cheapest prices. No amount of corporate-sponsored advertising is going to change that.
Then again, I’m not the target audience for a smart fridge that does inventory for me. It’s one of those AI features that I’m quite happy to handle myself the old-fashioned way. The most hi-tech part of the process is adding items to my shopping list in Google Keep, assuming I haven’t just scribbled it down on a piece of paper.
But hey, if you have a Samsung Bespoke Smart Fridge with Vision AI, this is something to look forward to. Apparently the new Instacart integration will be arriving later this year via a firmware update.
