Zomato, which is a food delivery and restaurant search platform, said that it will remove any kind of food related images that have been created with the help of artificial intelligence (AI).
Zomato’s CEO, Deepinder Goyal posted on X (earlier known as Twitter) that after facing backlashes from users for creating ‘deceptive’ pictures of food items, the company has decided to take this step.
No ‘AI-made’ food!
On August 18 Deepinder Goyal posted a long post showcasing the difference between an original food picture and a picture generated with AI. He said that these ‘differences’ are creating trust issues among users. So, from now on he will not allow the use of AI-generated food images on the food delivery platform.
He explained that in order to improve workflows Zomato uses many AI technologies. However, he has asked restaurant owners not to add any AI-generated images from now on. In addition to this the company will actively remove every AI-generated food image. The initiative to ban AI-generated images came just after the company received several complaints from users. Some stated that these images were deceptive and misleading. This eventually resulted in claiming refunds, giving lower ratings and an increase in complaints.
Furthermore, Goyal has strictly confined the use of AI-generated images by its marketing team for gaining audiences. “Please note that this ban also applies to our marketing team – they have been instructed to not use AI generated images for marketing purposes hereon,” Goyal added further.
The CEO further added a note for restaurant owners. Notably, they should start investing in real food shots for their menu. In case they haven’t done so, they should connect with the catalogue support team of Zomato. The restaurant owners can schedule a photoshoot by mailing at catalogue@zomato.com. In addition, the option will be available as ‘pass-through’ as Zomato will not be making any money being a part of this initiative.
Netizens react
After Goyal posted the initiative, it got both supportive comments and criticisms. Some came up with comments like ‘great initiative’. However, some suggested that the company should stop its AI enabled chat support, claiming that ‘it’s horrible.’ Another user @mit_kotak said that “Your support for low quality food has gone down drastically in the last 6 months. We don’t want refunds when food is substandard. We are looking for good quality and service.” Some had even trolled the company, by sharing ‘expectations vs reality’ memes. @chetan_suri3, another X user shared a picture of a food item compared to an AI-generated one.
Follow FE Tech Bytes on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook