When award-winning chef Grant Achatz announced the use of ChatGPT to design a nine-course menu for his Michelin-starred restaurant Next in Chicago, it sparked a heated debate in the culinary world about whether AI should intervene in creative cooking.
This controversy arose from what seemed like an innocuous social media phenomenon. In October 2024, an "restaurant" called Ethos in Austin went viral on Instagram, attracting thousands of followers with its bizarre dishes such as skinless pizza balls and dust mite bread. However, Ethos existed only in the virtual world—it was a completely fake restaurant entirely generated by AI, with seemingly impossible meals being poor imitations created by the technology.
From Virtual Restaurant to Real Kitchen
If the Ethos incident served as a warning about AI's infiltration into the food industry, it proved prescient. In the months following its popularity, restaurateurs turned to large language model software to implement dynamic pricing, robot marketing, employee monitoring, and kitchen automation in their restaurants.
The most notable case came from chef Grant Achatz, who has won multiple James Beard Awards. According to The New York Times, this respected chef is using ChatGPT to create menus for his restaurant—a core creative task that most chefs dream of.
The "Creative" Process of Virtual Chefs
Achatz's approach has been controversial: he commissioned ChatGPT to assume different virtual chef personas, each drawing inspiration from real-life culinary masters. For example, AI created a 33-year-old female chef named Jill from Wisconsin, reportedly having apprenticed under legendary figures such as Ferran Adria, Jiro Ono, and Auguste Escoffier.
Then, Achatz instructed the chatbot to produce recipes "that reflect her personal and professional influences." As the renowned chef candidly admitted, "I want it to do as much as possible, rather than actually be ready."
Strong Industry Backlash
Social media reactions were largely negative. A commenter on Bluesky wrote, "This is an insult to Ferran Adria, Jiro Ono, and many talented chefs under Achatz who have actual experience that can be reflected in their dishes."
Denver senior pastry chef Sarah Osborne was even more outspoken: "They should really title it 'Grant Achatz no longer wants people to spend $1000 on dinner but outsources his work to artificial intelligence.'"
Potential Safety Hazards of AI Recipes
The issue with this approach goes beyond the creative aspect. In September 2024, NPR reported that AI-generated recipes could be lethal if consumed. Food critic Morgan Wujkowski pointed out that ChatGPT was still producing dangerous recipes like "burnt lettuce soup," which involves "boiling lettuce for 30 minutes and then roasting it at 500 degrees."
"AI lacks common sense and cooking experience," Wujkowski wrote. "It follows algorithms, not taste buds. Often, the results are at best incomplete, and at worst, data is incorrect."
The Clash Between Creativity and Algorithms
This controversy touches on a deeper question: what role should artificial intelligence play in the creative industries? When many creatives and artisans are struggling to resist AI's widespread application in creative labor, Achatz's decision became particularly controversial.
"Human creativity and intuition are crucial in recipe development, and this is a major flaw in using AI to generate recipes," Wujkowski continued. "AI can assist in meal planning and macronutrient balancing, but genuine human taste testing is irreplaceable."
From the fake Instagram restaurant Ethos to AI experiments in real Michelin-starred kitchens, this trajectory reveals the growing tension between technology and traditional craftsmanship. As AI continues to penetrate the food industry, finding a balance between efficiency and creativity, cost and quality, will become a core challenge for the entire industry.