Will AI change the world of food photography?

AI Food Generator is an artificial intelligence tool that can create photos of dishes with a few keywords. — Photography Courtesy of Lunchbox/AFP Relaxnews

Everybody knows how important the visual appearance of food is to the whole tasting experience, which is why we have sayings like “your eyes are bigger than your stomach” or “feast your eyes on this”. While Instagram has become an essential communications channel for restaurants that like to post mouthwatering images of ‘food porn’, now there’s a specific AI tool that allows images of succulent dishes to be created based on just a few words.

Dripping with barbecue sauce and topped with caramelized onions, there's no doubt that you're already salivating at the thought of biting into this burger – whether made with meat or a vegetarian patty. The photographer is highly talented at convincing you to order it without even reading the description on the menu! Except that here, there was no human photographer or human food stylist: the stack of bun, patty, sauce, toppings and bun were actually composed by AI.