There’s already a post up about this but I wanted to share my own take.
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/restaurant-backlash-ai-menu-san-francisco/4115961/
A San Francisco restaurant is facing some backlash after the owners used AI to create photos of their menu items. They posted it on their window, not thinking much of it, but what followed were bad reviews and even vandalism.
She created a sign with pictures of drink and food items and put it on their window, but soon after got a lot of reaction online. About a week ago, she says someone spray painted what looks to say “seriously” outside.
They’ve now painted over it and she’s taken down the menu she created using AI. Now she’s looking to move forward and is now put her pastries by the window for people to see as they walk by.
Bullying works.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/sep/06/ai-food-menu-images
Nila Norero Salvatore, the owner of Bella Cafe, said she personally hasn’t received any complaints about the ChatGPT-designed signs on the street or those advertising the breakfast menu inside her restaurant, both of which include images of the food. The 65-year-old said she and her husband are “old-fashioned,” adding that experimenting with AI is “fun” and “new for us.” She also uses ChatGPT to help write reference letters for workers and craft the cafe’s employee handbook.
She needs to be bullied.
If you see a food place with AI signs, you can just pull them off the window and walk away with them. You can do this even if the signs are on the inside. It takes seconds.
Keep moving at a decent pace, but no need to run. If someone follows, they won’t be able to follow very far because they’ll have to go back to mind the shop. Put the sign in a bin when you see one. Make sure you’ve got a route to get away that doesn’t require you to wait at a crossing.
Easier targets include shops with only one employee, especially if they’re currently serving a customer. Harder targets have more signs.
If there’s people dining by the sign you want to pull down, just say “excuse me” as you reach for it, and they will make space no problem. Works every time.
It’s free, easy, and you have no chance of being punished. You too can make a difference.
A patisserie recently opened near us AMS used an AI generated flyer for a letterbox drop. The building itself is new so no one knew where it was and the flyer did a terrible job explaining it.
I made a video about the opening and they liked it. Went in to have a chat with them last week and I could end up getting $500 a month of them to create real videos and photos
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She needs to be bullied
I would strongly suggest assuming good intent first. A lot of people are profoundly uninformed. Old people, in particular, are already confused about even basic long-standing computing technology.
You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. The lady in question, for instance, even said that it was fun for them to experiment with the AI signage. They maybe don’t understand what’s wrong with it. I would first try just explaining to someone what your problems with AI are. The average person has thought about AI about 5% as much as your average Lemmy user.
Then, if they continue to be stubborn or stupid about it, I absolutely support bullying them.
Naivete doesn’t cover them imo. If you are in the hospitality business, you need to be transparent and honest about what your food is or get negative feedback. Advertising with AI is moving in the opposite direction
You need a better argument. Everyone knows that restaurants advertise foods with photos that dont match reality. It has been going on forever.
I’m not saying pictures have to match reality. There’s a difference between cherrypicking and being dishonest. The purpose of a cherrypicked image of food is to denote a menu item and frame it in a deliberately appealing way. The purpose of an AI image is to lie.
Can we call it something other than “bullying” please?
What do you want me to call it?
Why not “protest”, it covers more than the liberal kind
Why should they be bullied?
Were the things in the menu not present in the shop?
Because it’s not a picture of their food, just a generic representation of the dish. It does not take much effort at all to prepare one and take a pic of it with your phone
Was the generic representation bad or midleading?
Regarding effort, since the article says that they are older than 60, maybe they may not be very experienced with taking photos, adjusting saturation, adding text etc.
I’m not sure about the average technical proficiency expected from average USAmericans. But in India, I would not expect an older shop-keeper to have experience with that.
