ChefGPT'? Eateries get smart with AI

Restaurants in Singapore are turning to artificial intelligence for help with research, marketing and recipes

- Tan Hsueh Yun

The restaurant staff who know you by name, the adjustments to the menu the kitchen makes because of your food restrictions, the extra wok hei in your noodles because the chef knows you like it that way — the pleasure of dining out is all about warmth, of being taken care of.

In this scenario, there seems no place for cold, analytical artificial intelligence (AI), the big thing that is changing the way people shop, get healthcare, play online games and manage their homes.

Yet, restaurants are getting in on the action, using it in ways they hope will enhance your enjoyment, and save them time and angst. Many started using AI about a year ago.

Mostly, restaurants are using it to come up with designs for artwork, menus and other collaterals. Some use it to fashion FAQs and research market trends. Chefs might use it to understand ingredients and look up recipes to use as a starting point for the final dish.

Chef Joel Ong, 37, co-owner of Enjoy Eating House, a restaurant in Stevens Road, says: "We realised that a lot of the way we worked was going to be integrated with AI moving forward. We engaged PR companies to help us and the work they sent us was clearly AI-generated."

AI is also helping restaurant owners be more efficient.

Chef Petrina Loh, owner of Morsels in Dempsey Road, uses it to spiff up photos she posts on social media about menu offerings.

The 42-year-old says: "I'm not sure if this is helping me run the restaurant better, but it does enable me to produce nicer-looking posts from photos my staff take. Even if the images are not so nice, I can fix them."

BABY STEPS The walls at Kentaro, the latest restaurant under Far East Organization's Chef X residency programme at Clarke Quay Central, are adorned with artwork of samurai cats eating chicken rice.

These images were generated by AI, says owner Stella Leung.