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Restaurants have been under fire for using artificial intelligence to advertise their food rather than using a photographer or, heck, even simply snapping a pic on a phone.
And if social media is to be believed, the Canadian National Exhibition is no different.
The CNE’s over-the-top food grabs much of the attention each year.
But posters showing what’s available in the Food Building, at vendors on the Midway and around the grounds are drawing more critical eyes.
A discussion on Toronto’s Reddit page highlighting a KD Smoothie, the latest “nightmare CNE food,” has sparked debate not only about how disgusting much, if not most, of the offerings are, but also about the images of those foods, with many calling out the apparent use of AI in their posters.
While some photos are legit, many appear to have gotten an assist from AI to, we’re not sure, attempt to make the food more appealing.
Commenters weigh in
However, the opposite appears to be the case, based on the comments.
“Over/under on how many of these food offerings at the Ex this year will have AI posters advertising them?,” one person on Reddit asked, while a second wagered: “I bet every single food vendor will be using AI slop posters as well ugh.”
“Interesting to see the amount of AI food art and graphics in CNE will be,” another person noted, while a third user suggested, “Set up a stand called ‘AI Slop.’ ”
One Redditor remarked: “They used AI to make the image, that’s why they’re all different, instead of hiring a food photographer to make this stuff look appealing in any way.”
They added: “Not sure how pickle coffee would be appealing at all though.”
One CNE visitor pointed out that nothing’s safe, claiming artificial intelligence was even used for their ticket booths.
“The one near the casino had a ticket booth with an AI-generated person,” they said, to which another responded, “That’s grosser than any of these foods.”