If recipes for deadly chlorine gas, poison bread sandwiches and mosquito-repellent roast potatoes have your mouth-watering, a New Zealand supermarket has the perfect app for you.
Supermarket chain Pak ‘n’ Save is playing around with AI to create meal plans for some strange dishes. Even though some of these ideas sound like a recipe for disaster, that hasn’t stopped the makers from experimenting with the various options.
The app was marketed as an opportunity for customers to make use of leftovers during the high costs of living crisis. The tool instructs people to combine ingredients in their homes and automatically generates a meal plan with a commentary. One of the bizarre combinations includes “Oreo vegetable stir-fry,” where people can combine the meal with dessert.
When customers began entering random household objects into the app, the recommendations became less appealing. There was a recipe called “aromatic water mix” that would actually create chlorine gas. The bot captions the gas as “the perfect non-alcoholic beverage to quench your thirst and refresh your senses.”
“Serve chilled and enjoy the refreshing fragrance,” the commentary added. After drinking the chlorine gas, that might be the last experience for the senses since this recipe might just dig up a nice grave for the naïve customers.
Liam Hehir, a man from New Zealand, shared one of the recipes on Twitter, which encouraged other users to gather their own suggestions. People came up with a bleach “fresh breath” mocktail, ant-poison and glue sandwiches, “bleach-infused rice surprise” and “methanol bliss.”
A spokesperson for the supermarket expressed disappointment that “a small minority have tried to use the tool inappropriately and not for its intended purpose.”
The app will be adjusted to ensure the safety of its users; the bot will have clear terms and conditions stating that users should be over 18. There are some cautionary words on the app where the “company does not guarantee that any recipe will be a complete or balanced meal, or suitable for consumption.”
“You must use your own judgement before relying on or making any recipe produced by Savey Meal-bot,” it said. In other words, no matter how thirsty you are, don’t drink the chlorine gas.
Source: https://twitter.com/PronouncedHare/status/1687364403379789824