AI is set to dramatically change the way we eat, from meal planning to shopping lists. But for recipe developers, this tech revolution is harder to swallow Patricia Clarke discovers. In the bygone days of May 2024, it did not seem as though AI had a future in the culinary sphere. In a now-immortalised screenshot posted on X, Google’s newly released ‘‘AI Overview’’ tool responded to the search query ‘‘cheese not sticking to pizza’’ by suggesting that the user add ‘‘about ⅛ cup of non-toxic glue’’ to the sauce to make it stick. That same month, it told another person to eat ‘‘one small rock per day’’ and advised a third that petrol could be used to make ‘‘spicy spaghetti’’. Two years later, generative AI has been rebranded as the ultimate kitchen companion. Google now markets its AI assistant, Gemini, as a tool you can talk to while cooking, promising ‘‘expert advice and personalised help’’. OpenAI, meanwhile, has advertised ChatGPT as ‘‘your new sous chef, sommelier and creative partner’’.…