You’ve probably heard of ChatGPT by now, the AI-powered chatbot wowing technologists, journalists, and a whole bunch of Twitter users with its ability to understand human language and give realistic human-like responses.
The New York Times called ChatGPT the “best artificial intelligence chatbot ever released to the general public” while others have speculated how the technology could change industries ranging from banking to healthcare.
Since ChatGPT has been used for everything from sending clients emails to writing poetry, I figured I’d play around with it to see how it could help me make a better cook.
The first thing I thought I’d do is see if the chatbot could help create a recipe with some interesting flavors. I asked it to make a bread recipe “using beer, chocolate and Rice Krispies” and, after a few seconds, a recipe complete with cooking instructions appeared on my screen:
Sounds good to me. I mean, who wouldn’t want a beer and chocolate bread recipe featuring Rice Krispies?
When I asked Google the same question, no recipes that featured beer, chocolate, and Rice Krispies in the ingredient list showed up. In fact, every time I asked ChatGPT for a recipe suggestion, the results were as good or better than the results from Google.
But where ChatGPT really shined is its ability to remember my previous questions and build upon those for very context-specific responses. Take, for instance, my query for a pasta recipe that featured red sauce and garlic. ChatGPT’s initial response was a recipe that looked good, but it was a recipe that could have easily been found with a Google search.
When I asked for a Keto-friendly version of the pasta recipe, ChatGPT considered the specific recipe and gave a pretty good answer about how to fit the specific dietary profile I wanted:
As you can see, ChatGPT makes the process of figuring out a meal something closer to a conversation with a chef or a culinary planner rather than the traditional process of piecing together search engine queries. In fact, I found I could build an entire meal plan using the chatbot, including things like wine pairings…
To side dishes…
And it’s not just flavor pairing and meal planning where ChatGPT shines. Because the chatbot has a wide breadth of understanding of pretty much everything, you can ask it for advice about how to use food in a variety of different situations, such as life events:
Or when someone you know may need a little pick-me-up:
Not every response is perfect, and some have noted (including ChatGPT’s creators) how the chatbot often gives answers that make no sense or appear wrong. But the hits seem much more frequent than the misses, and overall the technology looks like it can already give better responses than the traditional tools we use when looking for our next meal.
I’ll have more to say on this later, but my initial test has convinced me that an AI like ChatGPT could significantly change the way home cooks and the food companies that serve us approach meal-making. While ChatGPT doesn’t have an official API yet, it probably won’t be long before it does. Imagine a world where a foodie-focused chatbot incorporates meal planning with a shopping engine and delivery to help you instantly build a meal plan and have it deliver everything you need to your door. I’m sure Google and Amazon are thinking about it, as are creators of dedicated recipe or meal-planning apps.
So will ChatGPT replace humans or other experts who help us make great food? Probably not, at least right away.
As for what ChatGPT thinks about that question, I’ll let you read its answer:
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