Uncanny and unappetizing: appetites spoil as AI images take over food menus
Restaurants are increasingly using AI-generated images for menus to cut costs, but consumers are reacting negatively to the often uncanny and unappetizing results. The trend has sparked backlash, with some diners finding the AI-created food visuals misleading and off-putting.
Why it matters
This reflects the growing tension between corporate cost-cutting through automation and consumer expectations for quality and authenticity.
About this content Lisa Bonos Sun 6 Sep 2026 09.00 EDT Share Prefer the Guardian on Google D uring a recent lunch break, Jill Sennett saw something so unappetizing she had to share it with her 26,000 X followers : Artificial intelligence-generated menu images from a Jamaican barbecue pop-up restaurant in which the meats looked like leather belts crawling with tiny beetles.
The images were reshared by more than 500 people who similarly expressed their disgust. Eating is “such an essential human experience”, said Sennett, a 37-year-old nurse in Denver. “I think it’s a bad cultural thing that restaurants are converting to these horrific, uncanny food images that are unappetizing.”
Still, Sennett ordered chicken and macaroni and cheese. It was one of her only lunch options, and she had eaten there before.
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