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A coffee shop owner used AI to make a menu poster. Then came the angry DMs

82 points · 316 comments · TMWNN

  1. HanShotFirst · · focus · HN ↗
    I've noticed a very sudden uptick in these AI designed signs and menus in my area. I fully understand why they are used by small business owners (fast and cheap), and I think getting angry at or threatening a business owner for using them is a huge overreaction.

    That said, my own aesthetic sense is very much turned off by them. It is hard for me to articulate why, but I can name four reasons:

    - The food never actually looks good, real, or delicious;

    - The information is presented in a haphazard way, with text randomly thrown all over the place;

    - There is really only one kind of "style" of these signs that I've seen, and it's sad to think that this style (or lack thereof) may become ubiquitous;

    - In a world where AI feels increasingly shoved down our throats, it is unnerving to so suddenly see its rise manifested in the physical world.

    1. sippingabonedry · · focus · HN ↗
      I have some bad news for you:

      • The pictures on cereal boxes aren't entirely real, either. They use school glue, not milk.

      • Your burger has never looked like the one on the menu (see Falling Down)

      • I've never eaten at a Chinese takeaway where the food looked like the light-up menu board, either.

      How has AI art made your food meaningfully less delicious?

      1. threetonesun · · focus · HN ↗
        I don't eat cereal and I can't think of the last time I ate at a restaurant that had pictures on the menu, but to your point I think there's still quite a huge gap between optimized and perfected version of thing that exists versus thing that entirely does not exist.
        1. phoghed · · focus · HN ↗
          > I don’t eat cereal

          Wow, you really got him with this completely relevant fact that did not at all miss the point.

          1. F3nd0 · · focus · HN ↗
            I think it’s relevant in that they lack the personal experience, and so can’t comment on the given points from experience, as they might be expected to.
          2. janalsncm · · focus · HN ↗
            I agree that it wasn’t a strong response, but 1) we can still be nice and 2) if you read the rest of their comment they do have substantive things to say.
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