Published 2023-08-13 22:14
The food chain created an AI that would suggest recipes.
The idea was that less food would be thrown away.
But out came dinner suggestions for poisonous gas and sandwiches with turpentine.
A grocery store chain in New Zealand – Pak ‘n’ Save – decided to create a robot that would use AI to suggest recipes. According to their advertising campaign, it was a way for their customers to “creatively use leftovers during the economic crisis”. It was just a matter of entering what they had in the fridge and the AI came up with suggestions on what could be cooked.
Deadly “aromatic water mix”
But pretty quickly, users began to discover that the robot came up with some strange recipes. In the beginning relatively harmless, like vegetarian wok with cookies. But the proposals would be more deadly, writes The Guardian.
For example, a recipe for “aromatic water mix” which, according to the AI, was “the perfect non-alcoholic drink to quench thirst and refresh the senses”. The only problem was that the prescription was for chlorine gas, which can cause damage to the lungs or, in the worst case, death if inhaled.
But that didn’t seem to be a problem for the AI, encouraging the user to “serve it chilled and enjoy the refreshing aroma.”
It escalates
The odd recipe quickly spread on Twitter with calls for more people to challenge the robot. Soon there were recipes for bleach “fresh breath” mocktails, sandwiches with glue and ant poison and “methanol bliss” – poor knights with a taste of turpentine.
The food chain: “Disappointed”
A spokesperson for Pak ‘n’ Save responded to the criticism and said they were disappointed. On those who used the robot incorrectly.
– A small minority have tried to use the tool in an inappropriate way and not for its intended purpose.
But in a statement, the chain later wrote that it would continue to develop the robot and that it was not suitable for people under 18. Later, the app was updated with a message. They cannot guarantee “that any recipe will be a complete or balanced meal, or suitable for consumption”.