PAK’nSAVE, from Foodstuffs' 100 percent New Zealand-owned and operated enterprise, comprised of PAK’nSAVE, New World, and Foursquare supermarkets, has received major backlash regarding its recent online release of its Savey-Meal Bot.
The AI platform was designed to support consumers with the generation of recipes to make at-home cooking efficient, accessible and easy. However, it has received significant criticism for its generation of recipes and meal combinations which are toxic and unsafe.
It uses GPT-3 technology to generate recipes and has come up with some unsavoury recipes for consumers to try. This indicates the limitations of AI and its safety in these circumstances, where it generates recipes for consumption that could have deadly effects. Examples of generated recipes include the suggestion of creating chloramine gas, ant-poison jelly sandwiches, ‘methanol bliss’, and more.
These toxic and unsafe recipes are eagerly and happily suggested by the iconic stick-man as these generated suggestions come quipped with enjoying a glass of water on the side to dilute the toxicity of the recipe it has suggested.
The intention of the platform may have been for convenience. Despite this, the novel nature of AI and its ability to distinguish between what is and is not safe and to identify when input suggestions are inappropriate or are simply misuse and abuse of the tool has revealed the limitations of the technology as well as the need for greater security and programming when implementing such a tool.
