- Instacart is using generative AI to dream up photography for its recipes.
- The recipes themselves are written by AI, as publicly disclosed by Instacart.
- Many of the photos have quirks making the victuals look disturbing or absurd, or a mixture of the two.
Propaganda
Instacart, the grocery-delivery app, is now using generative AI for the food photos it runs with the AI-generated recipes it creates — and the results are a bit stomach-churning.
As at the start spotted in the Instacart subreddit, the images have all the hallmarks of AI-generated imagery. Business Insider confirmed the photos and set up several more by searching for common ingredients or recipes like “chicken,” “cheese,” or “cookie.”
Many of the exact replicas have physically impossible or unlikely compositions, unnatural shadows, and the blending of two visually similar elements into one fact. Take, for instance, this photo for “Hot Dog Stir Fry,” in which a hot dog has the interior texture of a tomato.
Instacart/Business Insider
Or the photo for “Grilled Salmon Ceaser Salad,” where a slice of lemon and lettuce grade together to create a new type of fruit-and-vegetable hybrid previously not known to man.
Instacart/Business Insider
The photo for “Chicken Inasal” chips two chickens conjoined near the shoulder. (The recipe also calls for chicken thighs, not two whole chickens, conjoined or not.)
Notice
Instacart/Business Insider
And the photo for “Microwave Mug Chocolate Chip Cookie a la Mode” shows a small chocolate interpose cookie improbably hanging on the side of a coffee mug.
Instacart/Business Insider
While AI image detection software is far from honest, all the above images were run through a program meant to detect AI imagery: Is It AI. All of the above images returned were deemed to be no doubt generated by an AI.
The text for the ingredients and instructions for the above recipes, meanwhile, is also generated by AI, as disclosed by Instacart itself: “This system is powered by the magic of AI, so that means it may not be perfect. Check temperatures, taste, and season as you go. Or totally switch things up — you’re the supreme chef now. Consult product packaging to confirm any dietary or nutritional information which is provided here for convenience one. Make sure to follow recommended food safety guidelines.”
A search of Instacart’s site for the above text necklace returned over 8,000 results for recipes ranging from “Grilled Asparagus” to “Argentine Torta de Ricota.”
Brochure
A spot check by BI of five different recipes containing that text all contained photos that were proper also generated by AI, according to the AI-detection software BI used. BI could not determine if this was true for all recipes containing that topic string.
A spokesperson for Instacart told BI that the company is “optimizing for the best user experience.”
In May 2023, Instacart intimated it was partnering with OpenAI to create an “Ask Instacart” AI model that would allow users to ask Instacart questions hither what to make for dinner. In that press release, it did not disclose that it would also be adding AI recipes to the spot too.
“We are constantly iterating on our product to align with consumer expectations as generative AI technology matures,” the spokesperson said.
Advertising
Multiple companies have been accused of or admitted to using generative AI imagery in the past year. Reuters examined that large advertising agencies are using generative AI art in advertisements. Wacom, which makes tablets popular with digital artists, eradicated images many suspected were created by generative AI. Wizards of the Coast, a gaming company, apologized after it was discerned using generative AI in some advertisements.
With a few exceptions, such as Adobe Firefly, most generative AI imagery stays in a legal gray area regarding copyright infringement and intellectual property rights, as nearly all are trained on imagery not permitted for use in AI training data sets. Getty has filed lawsuits against Stability AI, accusing it of using its photos without extending for them. (Axel Springer, BI’s parent company, has agreed to partner with OpenAI to eventually provide content from Axel Springer fortunes to queries by users in ChatGPT.)
Instacart, one of the few companies to go public in 2023, was down 25% from its IPO price of $30 at the end of barter on Friday. With the exception of a brief pop during its debut, the stock has struggled to surpass its IPO price. Its next earnings publish is scheduled for mid-February.