The NYT Cooking app is testing AI recipe modifications

The New York Times is gradually rolling out an artificial intelligence feature that lets Cooking subscribers modify recipes in the iOS app. NYT Cooking senior editor Genevieve Ko announced the feature last Friday.

The tool can suggest ingredient and equipment substitutions, adjust recipes for different pans and tools, and scale recipes to any number of servings. In one example, it advises adding baby spinach later than kale because spinach wilts faster. Customized recipes remain private and cannot be published or shared through the app.

The feature is currently available to all Cooking subscribers using the iOS app, with broader availability expected “soon.” The Times is monitoring its performance. Some readers have raised concerns about the environmental impact of widespread AI use and how AI features could affect the user experience. Asked whether users could disable it, Ko said, “No, not at this time,” and described the tool as “completely optional to use.”

The app has used AI for other recipe changes: Ko says it converted imperial volume measurements to metric weights two years ago, and added a feature last year to halve or double a recipe’s original serving size. The comments on the new feature announcement were closed after four days. Times spokesperson Jordan Cohen told The Verge that closing comments on older articles is standard practice and said members were already trying the tool on iOS and reporting good results.