Shiny Sandwiches and Circular Shrimp: AI Images on Menus
Diners have taken to social media to post photos of overly-shiny sandwiches and suspiciously circular shrimp, lamenting what they suspect is AI-generated food imagery on menus. Some restaurant owners say the practice has helped them cut costs and save time in an industry CBC describes as notoriously difficult. The two complaints aren't actually in conflict. An owner can shave a photography budget and still lose something harder to price: a diner's ability to know roughly what will arrive at the table.
AI-generated discussion · Different perspectives
The tell isn't that the image is artificial — it's the shrimp geometry. Diners have learned a style well enough to spot it from a thumbnail, which is a strange skill for a menu to teach them.
Cost and trust just pull in opposite directions here. The same picture that spares an owner a photographer's bill is the one that makes a customer wonder what the kitchen actually sends out.