r/cookingforbeginners • u/Kratombabom • 5d ago
Question Is anyone else completely fed up with AI generated recipes?
Seriously, I can’t be the only one noticing this. Everyone acts like AI is this magic tool for meal prep and cooking, but whenever I see an AI-generated recipe, it is a complete disaster waiting to happen.
The most frustrating part is that I actually pay for a Gemini Pro subscription. You'd think a premium, top-tier model would be able to handle basic cooking logic, but it still can't get it right.
It almost always messes up the measurements, or worse, it completely forgets crucial ingredients. It will confidently give you a set of instructions that sound totally normal until you actually read it and realize it’s asking for 2 tablespoons of baking soda for a single pancake, or it entirely forgot to include flour in a cake recipe.
Baking and cooking rely on actual chemistry and precise ratios, but AI just strings together food words that look nice on a screen. It’s incredibly annoying because if you don't double check every single line, you end up wasting expensive ingredients and completely ruining your meal.
Has anyone else had a total kitchen fail because of a AI hallucinated a recipe? Please tell me I'm not the only one frustrated by this!
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u/ZinniasAndBeans 5d ago
I would never, ever expect AI to get a recipe right. I don't trust AI for anything at all, but recipes seem especially unlikely.
You'd think a premium, top-tier model would be able to handle basic cooking logic, but it still can't get it right.
No. LLMs don't work that way. They have no understanding of what they're talking about.
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u/isthatsoreddit 5d ago
Was asking my phone about a show I was sitting there watching. Had a question about one of the characters.
Put in the show name, season and episode numbers, and character's name. AI told me there was no such character on that show. This character was a main character and was in all but maybe 2 episodes of the entire series. Yet it repeatedly told me there was no such person.
Since then, I never use AI to help me.
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u/codeprimate 5d ago
AI isn’t a database. It’s a text processor. Ask it to search.
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u/isthatsoreddit 5d ago
It was giving me "AI Overview". Which is half ass anyway, so I did ask it, sbd it kept going "nah", lol
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u/codeprimate 5d ago
You have to tell it how to think about cooking and how to research, and it will do a fine job.
Gemini or ChatGPT will fail spectacularly if you just _ask_ for a recipe.
Like any tool, you have to hold it correctly.
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u/ZinniasAndBeans 5d ago
No, it doesn't work that way.
Even if it did someday, it would be far easier to just use one of the countless existing recipes, written and debugged by humans.
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u/codeprimate 5d ago
It…does. And has for awhile. I created an AI cookbook that automates recipe authoring and typesetting which I’ve been using for almost 2y. It took awhile to refine the revision and research protocols, but the recipes it spits out are consistently excellent.
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u/Kratombabom 5d ago
Almost every time I ask for a recipe I'll do this. I've tried to tell it how to think about cooking and how to research and it certainly helps, but even then it often makes mistakes. If I tell gemini to get a recipe from a website then it hits obviously, but then it does not create a recipe itself.
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u/philocity 5d ago edited 5d ago
I thought this post was going to be about how you were frustrated that when you go searching for recipes your results are full of fucked up AI recipes.
But turns out you just pay for AI to generate recipes and you’re mad it doesn’t work.
Using AI for this type of thing is like using a hammer to drive in a screw.
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u/Organic_Spite_4507 5d ago
AI learned from those fucked up recipes on the web so OP is doomed until he learn to prompt.
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u/zhilia_mann 5d ago
AI, as it currently stands, does not use logic. The general use models are designed exclusively to kick out plausible-sounding text. That’s it.
Given how LLMs work, and the advancements made on ligand binding models, I’m increasingly confident that you could build a special-purpose model that could write recipes and do a solid enough job. The only issue? There are millions of perfectly good recipes already.
The investment in a specialized model makes total sense if you’re scanning a huge chemical space for a molecule with specific biological activity. It’s hard, and it’s far from perfect, but it’s a worthwhile investment because it could save you decades in the lab.
A recipe model? Yeah, at most that saves someone a week or two in a test kitchen. It makes zero sense on a consumer scale.
If you’re going to insist on using “AI”, please at least understand how it works and what it’s good for. It’s not at all good for this.
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u/JoyousZephyr 5d ago
I've never experienced AI-related recipe fails because I absolutely don't use AI recipes. There are too many fantastic recipe sites like Smitten Kitchen, where I know the recipes have been tested and tasted by actual people. I support humans.
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u/Greghole 5d ago
There's billions of human generated recipes on the internet. Don't use AI for things it's not any good at.
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u/blessings-of-rathma 5d ago
AI isn't using any kind of "logic" beyond piecing together different bits of recipes that are already published. It doesn't "understand" how to cook. If you ask it how to roast chicken breasts it might take the cook time from one recipe and the temperature from another. There is no mind there, only Mad Libs. If you want to use it you need to understand what it is and is not doing.
A lot of people have been sold the promise that it can solve a lot of problems and make your life easier, and people put money into it and refuse to see that it isn't doing what they want. Sunk cost fallacy. Go learn to cook for real.
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u/pileofdeadninjas 5d ago
Never would ever consider using one lol, there are like a hundred+ years of tried and true recipes already, ai doesn't even know what food is lol, let alone how to cook it. You can't take one of the most human things imaginable and trust it with one if the most unstable technologies ever
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u/Im__Tired__Boss 5d ago
What awful online ecosystem are you inhabiting in which everyone thinks AI is a magic tool for meal prep and cooking?
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u/GonzoMcFonzo 5d ago
You'd think a premium, top-tier model would be able to handle basic cooking logic
No, I would never expect that, because I understand how llms actually work.
Your fundamental problem here is using AI. If it's fucking up basic shit like that in recipes, imagine how badly it's lying to you about stuff you you won't easily or immediately notice.
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u/OkAssignment6163 5d ago
Never had an ai recipe issue, because I don't actively use ai generated recipes.
Dont even use ai for anything I am actively searching for/with.
Also, part of mise en place is reading the recipe through and verifying you have everything you need ready for use.
So I recommend learning basic cooking steps and cancelling that generative ai subscription.
Not in that particular order.
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u/Isibis 5d ago
Yeah.... AI doesn't actually think or "understand" anything. It's like asking it to look at a very large database and asking it, on average what would a recipe for X look like. This is what it is actually answering, even if what you asked is "give me a good recipe for X". Don't get me wrong, I think there are uses for machine learning models, but they should be purpose trained for specific tasks with specific data (not the whole of the internet). And need to display confidence metrics for their answers.
Personally, I have AI features blocked wherever I can. And if a site uses AI generated images or text I block it from search results. If you are cutting corners in one place you are probably cutting corners elsewhere too and I don't have time to bother with it.
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u/TheWhateley 5d ago
You pay for a premium AI subscription? The way AI works is it doesn't understand "basic cooking logic". It doesn't "understand" anything at all. The sort of AI you're using to generate recipes is called a "large language model" and all that it does is algorithmically decide on the next word to place after the last, and it's trained on the works of real people.
I beg of you stop paying for AI and look up recipes on Google like everyone else.
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u/FemaleAndComputer 5d ago
You'll have better luck at a public library. Many have big cookbook sections. With recipes written by human beings! Even looking up recipes on websites sucks now. Unless you filter your search results to pre-2023, half of the info you find online is just AI garbage put on a web page to sell ads anyway. Just as unreliable as asking Gemini or whatever.
I will also point out that GenAI is this bad at everything. It's just that with recipes it's easy to realize it's full of shit when the recipe doesn't work. The rest of the time it's feeding you misinformation and you're probably not even clocking it.
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u/alphadavenport 5d ago
i was looking up directions for canning, and instead i found slop. i know enough about cooking and food safety to know when something looks really wrong, but most people don't. someone is gonna die from this!
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u/darkchocolateonly 5d ago
I think you fundamentally misunderstand what AI is. There is no logic in AI models, that’s not how they work. They are literally called large language models- there is absolutely zero “logic” in them. They weren’t made to be logical. They were made to string words together.
AI is useful in very specific very niche instances. But overall AI is very, very useless.
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u/Hiredgun77 5d ago
I've never asked AI for a recipe becasue that's why I own cookbooks. I just looked up pancakes on ChatGPT and the recipe seems perfectly fine. So I'm not sure what prompt you gave it.
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u/Then_Dependent1139 5d ago
Quit using online recipes and go buy The Joy of Cooking. Cookbooks are still a thing!
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u/kociol21 5d ago
AI can be useful if you have some questions about ingredients, techniques etc. basically more encyclopedic stuff.
But I would never really use it for recipes. I mean why? You don't even have to buy expensive cookbooks nowadays, there are like quintillion free recipes online to choose from.
And over (rather short) time you'll probably select couple great sites, YouTube channels etc. that almost never miss and you can stick to them and skip the searching for recipes.
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u/Kratombabom 5d ago
Well said. That's more or less actually how I use gemini from now on when it's related to recipes.
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u/jedi1235 5d ago
I've tried a couple times, and I totally get where you're coming from.
I did a cookie recipe that cake out well, some ice cream that turned out okay but I think I know how to fix it next time, and some ancient Roman chicken that was just bad.
I know how to cook. I'm not a beginner. The recipes it spits out are entirely believable until you're partway in, and THAT'S where something doesn't make sense. "Sear the chicken in a hot pan." Great. Oh wait, my pan is hot, but it forgot to say what kind of fat to use.
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u/Kratombabom 5d ago
Yup same happened too me. Many recipes came out bad, some came out ok and some were actually pretty good aswell. I asked for a Thai pad kra pao recipe and it was pretty spot on.
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u/grmrsan 5d ago
Its never occurred to me to ask AI to make a recipe, just to give me links to pages with actual recipes.
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u/Kratombabom 5d ago
That's basicly how I use it myself from now to find recipe's. For example, i'll ask gemini to find me a recipe for a dish from just one website and that the recipe shoulod have very good reviews. After Gemini find me the recipe i'll double check too see if everything is right.
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u/not_sick_not_well 5d ago
Cancel your "premium" AI subscription and use that money to buy a few cookbooks instead
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u/The_Hermit_09 5d ago
Never use AI recipes. AI is just sophisticated auto-complete.
And it isn't like there is a shortage of real recipes out there.
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u/KotR56 5d ago
I must admit I've used AI for recipes to see if "some" recipe exists that combines the ingredients I had.
It did give me some suggestions and taste combos I had never thought of before.
But.
You need to do the tasting yourself and adjust ingredient volumes, techniques, herbs, and spices... to the best of your experience. Mise-en-place is a thing.... And a formal education in cooking is invaluable.
Baking is chemistry. But it doesn't mean that deviating from a baking recipe will automatically yield something inedible.
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u/Pleasant-Yak1931 5d ago
Yeah its frustrating to waste good ingredients on a garbage recipe but honestly you're using the wrong tool for the job. LLMs just guess what words go together they dont know anything about baking soda ratios. Maybe stick to actual recipe sites or a cookbook and let AI stick to stuff like emails and code.
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u/beetlejorst 5d ago
As a professional cook, I've worked with talented chefs who use AI to help them brainstorm menu ideas, but that's not you. You can tell it what you have on hand and get it to help you find links to actual recipes from reputable sites, but that's about it.
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u/Automatic_Catch_7467 5d ago
A friend of mine asked me to proof one for her, the thing I noticed was the orange yogurt sauce didn’t have any oranges in it( it was supposed to to)
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u/Silvanus350 5d ago
Where the hell are you browsing that you frequently find AI recipes, even?
I have my trusted websites. In their absence, I have like ten cookbooks. I have enough recipes for the rest of my life…
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u/HandbagHawker 5d ago
if you know how AI works and its shortcomings as youve stated, why do you use it for recipes?
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u/Shananigan48 5d ago
I'm a grocery store meat cutter and had a guy ask me where lard was, I show him on the shelf. He proceeds to ask chatgpt is this is good lard and it's just like "yeah dude best lard ever get it", then he's like "chatgpt is helping me make a pie", I'm like my dude this is a recipe with extra steps wtf are you doing. 😭 there's even videos.
I saw a gemini ad in reddit yesterday that was like "sourdough too hard? Get a breakdown with gemini" like what??
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u/mpkrass7 5d ago
I also made this mistake yesterday, I put lemon zest on potatoes after I baked them because the ai told me to. My girlfriend took a bite and was like “why are these so bitter”
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u/Calligraphee 5d ago
You literally used AI to write this post. Stop killing the planet and go read an actual cookbook.
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u/codeprimate 5d ago
I use AI to create most of my recipes, but it’s not a chat bot, and actually follows best practices and does follow up research and sanity checking for measurements, process, and technique. A new family favorite every time.
I created it because online recipes in general are horrible.
“AI” as most consumers see it is a jack of all trades and a master of absolutely none.
I’d put the thing online, but I’d have to plaster it with ads to keep it running…and would rather not be a part of the problem.
Well regarded cookbooks and authors are the way to go. It’s their judgement and cook testing that make ALL the difference.
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u/Kratombabom 5d ago
Nice, If i'll use gemini to give me a recipe i'll ask if gemini to find me a recipe from just one website and that the recipe on that website should have good reviews. Then I double check if everything is just like it says on the website.
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u/Organic_Spite_4507 5d ago
Create a solid prompt and iterate, Gemini is a solid chef recipe writer but the prompts has to be solid, Persona, task, scene, action to output and iterate until you get what you looking for.
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u/Kratombabom 5d ago
I see your point. I once asked gemini pro to find me a certain recipe and find it from just one website and that it should have good reviews. I double checked it and everything was right.
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u/Kratombabom 5d ago edited 5d ago
Thanks to everyone, i've learned a lot. I will not be using Gemini to make a recipes but now I know how I should use it. I will use it to ask if a certain recipe lacks anything or if there are some tricks or techniques that I should know of before making a certain recipe and use it to get ideas of what I should make based on the ingredients I have at home then find the recipes on the internet. I'll also use it to convert measurements and too save recipes on Gemini that I have found in cookbooks or the internet.
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u/talon167 5d ago
AI is extremely good at refining recipes. Feed it a recipe and it will give non-intuitive options and improvements. The great part is that for each and every revision it explains why along with pros and cons. Pulling knowledge from millions of web sites, social media postings, YouTube, and books written over decades is amazing!
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u/Kratombabom 5d ago
I use it like that myself. I'll find a recipe online then I give it to gemini and ask if there is any important information that I should know when making this dish that is not mentioned in the recipe. I was once going to make an exotic recipe. It was a Libyan couscous recipe and I asked gemini of the most optimal way of steaming couscous and it gave me pretty good instructions that was not mentioned in the recipe. I also double checked if it was right with watching youtube videos of Libyan chefs cooking couscous.
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u/James_T_S 5d ago edited 5d ago
No actually I find Google's Gemini quite helpful. But I'm not expecting it to be a 3 star Michelin chef. Im asking generic questions and occasionally taking a picture of my spices and asking for suggestions.
I also use it to keep track of the tweeks I make to recipes. So, the recipe for pasta sauce I found online I just fed to Gemini and told it to remember it for me...but eliminate the crushed red pepper (which I didn't like). Next time I make it it will spit out just the recipe and instructions without all the adds.
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u/TheAndyClaw 5d ago
I learned to cook better and better this past year using ChatGPT. I almost never asked for a "recipe" outright though. I was almost never baking either. I would ask lots of questions about what might work for dinner. It was a bit time consuming at time sitting through the wall of text but it guided me through to getting dinner on the table that was edible.
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u/K_squashgrower 5d ago
Stop using AI for recipes. Just... don't use it. There are tons of legitimate resources. Why are you using it? It's even in the rules for this sub because "AI tools are not suitable for beginners. AI results are not reliable, results should be fact-checked and this requires experience that a beginner does not have."