Ottawa restaurant owners weighing whether to freshen up their menu photos are wading into a messy new trend: AI generated "slop" images that look close enough to real food to post, but wrong enough to gross people out.
What's showing up on menus
The images causing the biggest stir online are the strange ones. In one widely shared example, a menu's shrimp scampi photo showed shrimp resembling "miniature life preservers" rather than anything a kitchen actually plated. Other AI generated protein images have appeared "covered in bugs." Neither photo involved a real dish, a real plate or a real kitchen, just a prompt and a generator.
Why restaurants are doing it anyway
The appeal is straightforward: AI tools are fast and cheap compared to hiring a photographer for every new dish. About 26% of restaurant owners already use AI tools, primarily for marketing, and the pressure to cut costs is real. In 2025, 42% of restaurant operators reported running unprofitable eateries, and a free or low cost image generator can look like an easy way to trim a line item.
Miami graphic design firm owner Daniel Silva said tools like ChatGPT actively encourage the habit, telling users their AI generated designs are "genius." Silva said his own business has adjusted by leaning on what a generator can't replicate: "We no longer sell creativity. We sell experience."
The backlash is real
Not every business is on board. Wyoming restaurant co-owner Jill Winger posted a sign at her business stating plainly that she would not use AI flyers or photos to promote it, a stance that struck a nerve online and pulled in 119,000 likes. A San Francisco coffee shop learned the risk of ignoring that sentiment the hard way, paying hundreds of dollars to remove graffiti that appeared after it used AI generated food images.
The skepticism has data behind it, though it cuts both ways. A 2023 survey found more than 60% of consumers couldn't tell AI generated food photos from authentic ones, meaning plenty of diners are fooled without ever noticing. But when an AI image goes wrong, in ways like malformed shrimp or bug flecked chicken, it goes very wrong, and people notice fast.
What food experts say to do instead
Nancy Hopkins, president of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, argues no photo, generated or otherwise, can replace the real thing. "No one can deliver what that photo brings," she said, urging restaurants to "tell your honest story. Real people, real stories will always be better."
There's a psychological reason the misses land so badly. University of Duisburg-Essen psychologist Alexander Diel said food carries outsized emotional weight for people, calling it "important to us" and "something that can easily make us" uneasy the moment it looks even slightly off.
The Ottawa angle
A generator promising free menu photos is tempting when every dollar counts, but the risk is a viral screenshot turning a marketing shortcut into a punchline, or worse, a reason a regular skips ordering. Diners here scroll the same delivery apps and Instagram feeds as everywhere else, and the backlash documented elsewhere shows how quickly a bad AI photo can outlast the menu item it was meant to sell.
Sources: NBC News, RNZ
