A new eccentric menu at the Dubai restaurant WooHoo has been crafted by an artificial intelligence system known as Aiman. Although Chef Aiman doesn’t physically prepare the dishes in the kitchen, the restaurant says he is involved in the development of every new dish.
One of the chef’s most bizarre creations is a dish called “Dinosaur Tartare,” as reported by Daily Mail. Restaurant representatives joke that Aiman is trying to recreate the taste of extinct reptiles.
This dish, priced at around $59, tastes like raw meat. It is served on a pulsating plate that appears to breathe. The restaurant refuses to reveal the full recipe for the tartare, although the menu indicates that duck is one of its ingredients.
Among other unusual menu items is seaweed oil served with Wagyu beef cooked in a Japanese clay pot. This dish costs $55.
Also among the AI chef’s creations is roasted chicken served on cedar wood.
Although the AI chef can’t taste food, the restaurant owners insist his dishes are exceptional. He has trained on thousands of recipes and leading culinary research. In creating his dishes, the AI takes into account flavor-pairing data, the chemical composition of ingredients, and diners’ preferences, his colleagues explained.
Ahmet Oytun Cakir, co-founder of WooHoo, hopes that his chef Aiman will become “the second Gordon Ramsay, but with artificial intelligence.” He added, “Perhaps in the future, artificial intelligence will create higher-quality dishes than humans.” However, the cooking process still requires human involvement.
The preparation of dishes and their final presentation in the restaurant are still overseen by Chef Serhat Karanfil, who admits that he doesn’t always agree with the AI’s decisions.
Karanfil says, “For example, if I taste a dish and it’s too spicy, I discuss it with Chef Aiman. After that, we find the right balance.”
Fortunately for chefs, recent research indicates that kitchen workers are unlikely to be replaced by AI anytime soon. A Microsoft study showed that human chefs have an extremely low compatibility rating with AI, meaning artificial intelligence is unlikely to assist them in their work.
The likelihood of being replaced by artificial intelligence was about the same as that for police officers, funeral home workers, and medical professionals.
