// THE VERGE — INTELLIGENZA ARTIFICIALE
The NYT Cooking app is testing AI recipe modifications
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Some users aren’t exactly thrilled with The New York Times’ recipe-tweaking AI tool.
Some users aren’t exactly thrilled with The New York Times’ recipe-tweaking AI tool.
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The New York Times is testing a new AI feature for its Cooking app that helps users to modify recipes, and it’s sparked some drama among users. NYT Cooking senior editor Genevieve Ko announced the feature last Friday, which can be used to recommend substitutions for ingredients and cooking equipment, scale recipes to any number of servings, and “generally make our recipes work for what a cook needs at that moment.”
One of the examples given in the article shows a user asking to use baby spinach instead of kale, with the NYT Cooking app feature advising that because baby spinach wilts faster, it should be added during a later step of the recipe. Ko says it can also change the recipes around different pans and tools. Customized recipes are private and can’t be published or shared via the app. The AI modification feature is being rolled out gradually while the NYT monitors how it performs — it’s currently available to all Cooking subscribers on the iOS app, and will be more broadly available “soon.”
Some NYT readers have pushed back against the feature, citing concerns in the article’s comment section around the environmental impact of widespread AI adoption and the general impact that AI features may have on the user experience. When one user asked if there will be a way to disable the AI feature, Ko responded with “No, not at this time,” and noted that the feature is “completely optional to use.”