Side of slop? Bizarre AI food images jump from online to IRL menus

AI “slop” is now increasingly on offer at brick-and-mortar establishments.

As AI image-making technology has grown more advanced — and cheaper to use, in some cases being free — images with a distinct “slop” flavor, namely ones with surreal or even disturbing attributes, have begun appearing on bodega, café and restaurant menus.

There’s the shrimp scampi whose shrimp look more like miniature life preservers.

A breakfast burrito with filling that looks more like something out of a horror movie.

And “protein” options that look like they’re covered in bugs.

One X user said she attempted to order an item advertised on a café’s outdoor menu only to learn it didn’t exist and was instead the product of ChatGPT.

The trend comes as the use of AI has grown from a tech-employee specialty to a nearly ubiquitous pursuit among white-collar workers — and as overall inflation in the economy has remained stubborn. The confluence of lingering cost pressures and advancing technology appears to be translating into a boom in smaller businesses deploying AI-designed graphics and logos.

There have been real-world consequences to the trend of AI slop making the jump from online into the real world. A coffee shop in San Francisco paid hundreds of dollars to have graffiti removed that appeared to be in response to its use of AI-generated food images on its facade, SFGate reported.

“I want people to come to our restaurant, but, like, why is this such a big deal that it influences people on such intense level,” co-owner Lyndsey Lozano told the outlet. “Like, is it really that horrific that you have to act on such a feeling?”

Lozano could not be reached for additional comment.

Many of the establishments displaying the food images likely created by AI are smaller, likely family-owned establishments, said Paul Shovlin, an assistant professor of English at Ohio University who studies AI. He said that it may simply be the case that many of the places displaying the AI food are running on shoestring budgets.

For some longtime designers, the advent of AI-related image making has been maddening — not to mention bad for their bottom lines.

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