Why AI-Generated Recipes Are Leaving Chefs and Cooks Frustrated

Don't Blindly Trust AI When Cooking(Photo: Shutterstock/nerudol)

For some time now, website operators have feared that AI search tools, chatbots, and Google's AI Overviews could devastate their traffic numbers. While Google disputes reports of plummeting visitor counts, studies back up the experiences of many content creators.

The issue: Google's AI Overviews, prominently displayed at the top of search results, often summarize answers so thoroughly that clicking through to the original sources seems unnecessary. But users should proceed with caution—especially when it comes to food.

AI-generated content, derisively dubbed AI slop, doesn't just threaten website traffic—it could also endanger the people using it, as Bloomberg reports. According to findings, the recipes compiled from multiple sources in AI Overviews are frequently riddled with errors.

The dishes may look delicious in vibrant photos, but those who follow the AI-generated instructions are in for disappointment. Chefs and food bloggers say the recipes are often flawed, leading to unappetizing—or even inedible—results.

Attentive readers may recall the AI blunder that suggested using non-toxic glue to keep cheese on pizza. Far more dangerous was a cooking recommendation from Google's Gemini AI that could have had lethal consequences.

Now, affected food bloggers report that a distorted AI version of a cake recipe results in a dessert that ends up as "charcoal." Another AI-generated cookie recipe proved a "disaster."

For U.S. food blogger Eb Gargano, AI slop undermines the basic promise that a recipe has actually been tested by someone in a real kitchen. No matter how advanced the AI, Gargano notes, "it can never physically test a recipe in a kitchen and see how it turns out."

The problem isn't limited to Google. On Facebook and Pinterest, cooking professionals are also flooded with AI-generated images and recipe ideas. In some cases, their own photos and recipes have been slightly altered by AI and republished without consent, they allege.

The bottom line for users? Don't trust everything you find online—especially recipes. When in doubt, rely on a human-crafted recipe site rather than an AI mashup.