Featured Image Credit: Reddit/reciperobotai/Christy Denney
Topics: Artificial Intelligence, Food and Drink, Reddit
Jess Hardiman
Topics: Artificial Intelligence, Food and Drink, Reddit
Reddit users have been left feeling seriously rattled after many were unable to tell which of two pictures had been generated by AI.
AI seems to be EVERYWHERE at the moment, from influencers creating artificial versions of themselves to police robots.
Even Snoop Dogg said it was ‘blowing his mind’, and frankly, it’s hard not to agree – while the ‘Godfather of AI’ Geoffrey Hinton admitted he regrets what he designed as he resigned from Google.
In the latest instalment of artificial intelligence creeping everyone out, we’ve got a Reddit post featuring two images of key lime pie-inspired bars.
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Both have the same crumbly base and lime-spiked cheesecake filling, topped off with a portion of whipped cream and a slice of lime.
But it turns out that only one of them is a true image, as the other was created via AI.
Posting the pictures, user u/reciperobotai wrote: “This time it's slightly harder. One is Midjourney 5.1, the other is real. Which one is which?”
With 4,400 upvotes and almost 1,000 comments, Redditors were quick to debate the post.
One person wrote: “Left is MJ. I think the crumbs and zest bits are too evenly distributed around the plate and the cream is too perfect. I cant imagine someone would actually place crumbs around the plate bit by bit. Also right has slight inconsistencies through the bake. It is real.”
Another agreed: “One on the right is real. Now I want a key lime bar.”
Someone else said: “I thought left was sus due to the plate being really huge and how the table seemed kinda indistinct from the plate.”
There were also calls for the picture on the right being the real snap, with one saying: “I think right is MJ, its too shiny.”
One other agreed: “Could tell the right one was MJ but it is close. The thing that gave it away for me was the blur of the out of focus lime. Looks like it’s just been blurred artificially rather than the natural blur you get from an out of focus lens.”
Putting everyone out of their misery, the OP eventually wrote: “Yep, the right is fake! I was most concerned about the lime skin when I generated it, but hoped that people would be more focused on the texture of the cream and crumbs.”
Indeed, the image on the left is actually a legitimate photo from a recipe book – specifically Scrumptious by Chrisy Denney, aka The Girl Who Ate Everything.
Denney shared the recipe for her ‘Key Lime Pie Bars’ on a number of sites to promote her second book, including Leite’s Culinaria.
“When I was growing up, my family’s happy place was snorkeling in the Florida Keys and we would go there often,” she said.
“At every restaurant we went to, we would always order a key lime pie for dessert and make a note of our favorites. Once, we ordered as many key lime pies as we could from different restaurants in the Keys and brought them home to have a tasting contest with our friends.
“Our favorite pie had an almond graham cracker crust. It was tart but not too tart and was topped with fresh whipped cream. This pie was inspired by that one!”
After the big reveal, one Reddit user admitted: “Well s**t I thought the left one was MJ. Guess I'm a robot.”
Another said: “Well I’m f**ked i thought it was left.”
A third pointed out: “Fun fact, many food images are fake. Usually whipped cream is not used at all because it melts too fast. Most food photos use shaving cream for whipped cream. So... unless you took the food photos yourself, you may never know which parts, if any, of the food item are real.”