Just Eat Pauses AI Food Image Trial After Menu Errors

Just Eat has paused the rollout of a trial that uses artificial intelligence to generate food images for restaurant menus, after inaccurate pictures appeared on a Northern Ireland restaurant’s menu.

One image showed bacon and eggs in a glass of cola. Other pictures reportedly depicted sausages, bacon and fried eggs floating in pints of fizzy drinks instead of representing the restaurant’s Irish breakfast sandwiches. Just Eat apologized and said it was removing inaccurate images while it further develops the tool.

A company spokesperson told The Independent that the images were part of a trial and that the rollout had been paused to improve the system for restaurant partners and customers.

The article notes that other delivery services are also testing AI food imagery. DoorDash recently opened a text-to-order AI agent for testing; Bloomberg News testers reported errors, including photos that did not match the recommended dishes.

The incidents raise questions about whether generated pictures can accurately represent the specific meals customers order. Tastewise marketing and partnerships director Michael Bortinger told TechRadar that image models produce an average representation of a dish category, which can look convincing without matching a particular item. The article argues that subtle inaccuracies, such as a missing topping or the wrong portion size, may be harder to notice than an obviously incorrect image.