Just Eat pauses AI menu images after bacon floats in cola

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 20 Oct, 19:20 · Archive

Just Eat has paused its trial of AI-generated menu photographs after the technology created absurd images including bacon and eggs floating in fizzy drinks.

Just Eat has paused its trial of AI-generated menu images after customers discovered numerous errors in the automatically created photographs. The food delivery app was using artificial intelligence to generate images for restaurants that had not provided their own photographs, with each AI-generated image tagged on the menu.

While the AI correctly imagined some dishes such as full English breakfasts and generic curries, it produced confusing results in other cases. A restaurant in Northern Ireland offering soda breads received images showing sausages, bacon and fried eggs floating in pints of fizzy drinks rather than the Irish breakfast sandwiches they were supposed to represent. Other failures included salt and pepper chips—a Chinese takeaway dish normally served with fried onions, chilli and peppers—rendered as plain potato snacks, and cheddar cheese in a vegetarian menu section turned into an orange fondue-like sauce. Customers shared their bemusement on social media, with one user warning they would 'cause murder' if their salt and pepper chips arrived as pictured.

A Just Eat spokesperson said the company was 'sorry for any inaccurate images' and blamed the technology for not being 'quite right the first time'. The company is removing the problematic images and pausing the rollout while further developing the tool. TechRadar reports that other food delivery services are also trialling AI-generated images, with DoorDash recently opening a text-to-order AI agent for testing.

How it is being reported

• Just Eat's AI images trial has exposed a much bigger problem with AIJust Eat pauses trial of AI-generated images for menu items after unfortunate bacon and eggs in a fizzy drink image.TechRadar · 20 Oct, 19:00
• JustEat apologises over AI menu pictures including bacon and eggs floating in colaFood delivery app pauses rollout of ‘AI-enhanced’ menu images after technology misinterpreted some dishesThe Independent · 19 Oct, 15:05

In this story: Just Eat · Northern Ireland · DoorDash

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