Providing Photos via Southeast Asian Delivery App AI
Introduced to Reduce Labor and Costs
Controversy has arisen as artificial intelligence (AI) provides food photos on a Southeast Asian delivery app.
According to foreign media including Singapore's The Straits Times, the Southeast Asian delivery app 'Grab Food' offers AI-generated food photos to help restaurant owners avoid the hassle of taking food pictures themselves and reduce the costs associated with food photography.
Food photo created by artificial intelligence (AI) released by Southeast Asian delivery app GrabFood. [Photo source=Online Community]
If a store owner provides Grab Food with the menu name, such as 'Salmon Rice Bowl,' and ingredient information like salmon sashimi and white rice, Grab Food uses AI to create fake food photos within seconds. The media reported that even if the menu or ingredients change, the images can be easily updated using AI.
In fact, the photo of 'Teriyaki Chicken Rice Bowl' shows detailed features such as chicken coated with teriyaki sauce giving a brownish color and sprinkled with sesame seeds. Although there is a small caption at the bottom stating, "Image generated by Grab and may differ from the actual food photo," many people fail to notice this and often mistake the image for real food.
Food photo created by artificial intelligence (AI) released by Southeast Asian delivery app GrabFood. Salmon roe is depicted the size of an egg yolk. [Photo by Online Community]
However, as some AI food photos were shared online, local netizens had mixed reactions.
For example, there were photos with errors such as salmon roe depicted as large as egg yolks, or 'Truffle French Fries' showing expensive truffles placed whole on the fries.
Local netizens commented, "If you look closely, many photos are very strange," "It’s meaningless if accurate information is not provided," "Who is responsible if the delivered food differs from the photo?" "I feel uncomfortable with AI-generated food photos," and "They look like plastic food."
On the other hand, some gave positive feedback, saying, "They look delicious like real food," and "As technology improves, the images will look more realistic, which will reduce all costs related to food photography and benefit store owners."
A food photo created by artificial intelligence (AI) released by Southeast Asian delivery app GrabFood. An error occurred where a whole truffle was placed on truffle fries. [Photo source=Online community]
Regarding this, Grab Food explained, "This is for self-employed people who cannot afford to take actual food photos," adding, "We will do our best to select visually appealing and accurate photos, continuously review the images, track user feedback, and delete or update images that can be removed."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
