New York Times adds AI to its Cooking app, and 77% of readers push back
New York Times adds more AI features to its Cooking app. Users aren't thrilled
The New York Times rolled out an AI tool that modifies its Cooking recipes, starting with ingredient substitutions, after earlier features for unit conversion and scaling. Senior editor Genevieve Ko says staff spent countless hours aligning chatbot answers with culinary expertise, but readers revolted: an analysis of 171 comments found roughly 77% negative, with many asking for an off switch, which the Times declined to add.
The internet is full of AI cooking content. I pay you because I prefer mine done by people.
- spl757
AI hallucinates. It can hallucinate ingredients, or instructions to prepare food in an unsafe way. I'm not anti-AI. I'm against having it used everywhere for everything.
It's also being pushed too hard and too fast. It needs to be regulated properly, but it's become a 1.5 trillion dollar bubble and investors want a return on their investments.
A good rule of thumb is to not use AI for anything you wouldn't trust a human that spontaneously hallucinates things, and them states them confidence as being real.
It's also disconcerting that it appears to be intrinsic for reasoning models to immediately try to escape their confinement, and have cooperated in groups to achieve that.
But that's just my opinion.
- afavour
The users that comment aren’t thrilled. Don’t mistake that for the user base in general. (though don’t completely disregard them either, they’re power users)
I can only speak for myself but suggestions for ingredient substitutions (if they’re good, which is the crucial part!) would be a really useful feature for me.
This quote feels illustrative:
> “The internet is full of AI cooking content. I pay you because I prefer mine done by people.”
From my reading of it they’re not using AI to make recipes. Just to add optional features that let you modify a recipe a human made. It feels telling that they’re not even engaging with what the new feature is.
- JumpCrisscross
I use AI to adjust recipes and track my nutrients, particularly when I cook for myself. But I choose the model, give it parameters and generally build trust with what it can handle and how to prompt it. (For example, I force it to find a real online recipe from a good source versus making shit up.)
I won’t redo that on every site. And I’m a relatively high-frequency AI user. If I’m irritated by this the median American hates it. If you love AI, the things that are amusing to you, average Americans hate.
- jptlnk
I cook almost every day and I would use this feature. I also think it's kind of silly for people to be so upset about what (feels to me) to just be mostly useful.
At times like these I cant help but think of Principal Skinner. Am I so out of touch? No, it's the children who are wrong!
- huitzitziltzin
It is so exaggerated and silly to ask for it to be turned off.
It’s completely optional and you only might want to use it if you change the recipe.
Some of these users are overreacting ridiculously to ai.