5 minute read
A Brush With Death
His throat was closing. His breaths were audible. Oh no, he thought, I’m having an allergic reaction to something I ate. He drank water, but his throat still warmed, then started to burn to the skin on the outside of his neck. His lungs were rattling, as they do when you have mucus from a cold, but no phlegm came up. So far he wasn’t having difficulty breathing, but it was becoming more … effortful.
There is an above-average chance I die today, he said to himself. He dropped everything. His wife drove him to an urgent care center while he considered his luck. A snowstorm had blocked all roads yesterday. If this emergency happened one day earlier, he might not have been able to get to aid, even via ambulance. In the end, he got some meds, and he lived to see another day.
That was me. It was not fun.
Here’s the background. As a child, I was told I’m allergic to certain foods. Over the years I’ve occasionally eaten them by accident and confirmed (with doctors) that it is possible for allergies to come and go.
The extreme reaction I had was my own fault. I had eaten something I thought I was allergic to with no adverse result. In an ill-formed experiment, I then ate a whole bunch of it, to see if I had outgrown the allergy.
As we both know now, I had not.
Google Gemini AI Hackathon
Back to the present. Google recently hosted a hackathon. If you don’t know, a “hackathon” is an event where software developers compete by making apps or games around a theme. Cash prizes and bragging rights are among the prizes. Often a company will sponsor such events as a way to encourage people to use their tech and show off what it can do.
Google recently released their Gemini 3 A.I. To celebrate they sponsored a Hackathon. I brainstormed for a while and then forgot about it. Then, as ideas often do, it came to me from the darkness of the subconscious at random.
Isn’t it horrible when children have allergies? I thought. The swelling from an allergic reaction can be more dangerous than a reaction in adults. A child’s throat is smaller and can close faster. Wouldn’t it be great to have an app that could scan a food and alert a child to potential danger? Kids are always with their phones, so it’s a perfect match. Snap a pic of food, and the A.I. provides intel on a user-set list of allergens.
Agent: Ingredients – the app that provides info about your food
The app Agent: Ingredients was born. I built it using Google AI studio, which uses the Gemini 3 A.I. and API, etc.
Here’s how it works: A user selects ingredients they would like flagged and then takes a photo of food (or the list of ingredients on the package.) The A.I. provides a report, noting if any of the ingredients selected are present or likely present. The report includes a disclaimer that this info is not a substitute for professional medical dietary advice.
I named the app Agent: Ingredients because its initials are A.I. You know, like Artificial Intelligence! Cute! I also felt a text and graphic theme around being a secret agent would make it more fun to use.
At its most successful, the app could save a life.
But there’s more! Another use for the app would be for dieters. If you’re on a gluten-free you can use the app. If you avoid specific chemical additives (like BHT) the app can scan a list of ingredients on the package. If you’re vegetarian, you can use the custom field and enter “Meat.”
Emergent Features
There are probably other uses for the app yet to be discovered. I’ve been using it with my phone for fun, dropping snaps of any food I see. The most amazing thing so far was when I came across a treat wrapper with writing on it I didn’t recognize. It looks to my ignorant eye to be Chinese, but I’m not sure. I scanned the food wrapper … and the app TRANSLATED it and showed the ingredients. See screenshot nearby. Groovy!
I had not told the app to do that while vibe-coding with Google’s AI Studio. The app simply did it. I’m thinking that one of the components of an intelligent agent is initiative. The software “knew” its mission and it completed it.
Conclusion
Regarding A.I., I am tired of the negative hype (it’s going to kill humanity.) I am tired of the overly-positive hype (we’re going to upload our brains to the cloud and e-live forever). A.I. is a tool. It’s a tech. It includes promise and peril. Let’s build on the promise and keep watch for the perils.
I hope this app shows some of the promise. I built this app, alone, with Google AI Studio, in under a week. This is the future: custom-designed, bespoke tools. After the hackathon I plan on making the code for the app public. You too could make such an app and remix it for your specific needs.
A.I. at its very best, is an assistant, it’s a tool that lets you make your own tools.
Health Disclaimer
The Agent: Ingredients app is a guide. It is not a replacement for professional, medical dietary and allergen advice. Consult a professional for complete information. It seems the safest way to avoid an allergen is this: if you’re unsure, don’t eat it.
