Some food bloggers are warning people to avoid relying on AI-generated recipes because of the chance of some deadly concoctions!
I think it’s a safe guess that if you found a recipe that called for using bleach or gasoline as an ingredient in your dinner, you’d probably steer clear. At least, I hope you’d avoid a recipe like that. Some people, however, might not. That’s why some food bloggers are raising red flags about artificial intelligence. They say AI-generated recipes could turn a meal deadly.
Naturally, food bloggers aren’t going to appreciate artificial intelligence giving them competition. They’re certainly going to want to give readers a reason to come to them over AI. When we see food bloggers making such a complaint, we have to look at both sides.
But in this case, food bloggers may have some valid concerns.
A few months back, viral posts on social media claimed Google’s AI-powered search result summaries suggested adding glue to your pizza, cooking spaghetti with gasoline, or suggesting that you should eat rocks for optimal health. Google responded, saying much of what was claimed didn’t actually happen.
But as ZDNet reported, Google admitted that “a few odd or inaccurate results did appear” and that there’s still room for improvement.
NPR reported on a food blogger family who thinks that while AI could have a role in food blogging, AI-generated recipes isn’t it.
But one interesting note in the story is this: a Twitter user asked an AI recipe generator to make a recipe using water, bleach and amonia. The resulting recipe, “aromatic water mix,” would have produced deadly chlorine gas.
But the user asked for a recipe with poisonous ingredients. Those of us who took computer science classes in school learned a popular phrase: “Garbage in, garbage out.” That means if you give a computer bad instructions, the result won’t be what you hoped for. That much is clear even with AI-generated recipes.
Would you trust AI for your dinner?
That food-blogging family isn’t the only online source that has something less than positive to say about AI-generated recipes.
NPR reported the results of a 2022 experiment on the website Tasty. That site compared two chocolate cake recipes. Artificial intelligence generated one of them. A professional food writer supplies the other. The food writer’s recipe won in a blind taste test.
The website Eater also lists failures of AI recipes. The Washington Post reported earlier this year that Instacart’s AI-generated recipes drew “horrified reactions” when some included ingredients that didn’t exist and “stomach-churning images.”
The problem with relying — or attempting to rely — on artificial intelligence for things like recipes should be obvious. Computers don’t have taste buds. They can come up with a list of ingredients. They can even include ingredients with necessary nutrients.
But they have no frame of reference in terms of how those ingredients will blend when it comes to flavor or texture.
Both play a tremendous role in how we enjoy our food. When you depend on non-humans who would neither now how things are supposed to taste nor which tastes are enjoyable, you can’t possibly be surprised when a recipe fails to meet the mark.
Granted, there are plenty of recipes generated by expert chefs that I might not like. That’s because there are certain foods I don’t enjoy. Living in a coastal city, you can imagine how many oyster-related events we have here. I hate oysters. I’ve never had them prepared in a way that I liked. (And no, I’ve never tried raw oysters nor would I.)
The safety issue aside — if you can set that aside given what some reports claim — the lack of a human frame of reference for taste would rule out my depending on artificial intelligence to craft any kind of recipe for me.
There are some things humans do better.
Coincidentally last week I ask an AI for a recipe, I wrote on Facebook, I like asking AI off the wall question to see what it can do. Hmm… I wonder if I give it a list of ingredients if it would come up with a recipe. Perplexity AI: What can I make with steak, capers, butter, wine, and shallots and other ingredients? Answer You can create a delicious dish using steak, capers, butter, wine, and shallots by preparing Steak with Caper Sauce. This recipe combines the rich flavors of steak with a tangy caper sauce that is quick and… Read more »
At least it didn’t recommend adding gasoline or Chlorox! haha