I keep seeing posts and news about the use of AI imagery in food specifically, and the reality is that when it’s done well, I’d wager most can’t even correctly spot what is AI and what isn’t. Of course, there is badly done AI just as there are badly taken photos.
1. AI generated using SD3
2. Real
3. AI generated using SD3
4. Real
5. Real
6. Real
7. AI generated using SD3
8. AI generated using SD3
Just by simple odds, you are bound to get some correct. But if you didn’t get them all correct, then I think the point is proven: the average person cannot, in fact, distinguish real from AI. So, if you can’t distinguish what is real from AI, then why not?
In food commercials, there is nothing real. Ice cream is mashed potatoes, and more often than not, it’s silicone formed in food-shaped molds. So, when it comes to food imagery in marketing, what is real?
I always find it interesting that smaller restaurants always want to use “real” photos of their food, which is almost always a bad idea. The reality is that real food doesn’t look great on camera. If it did, they would use it in the food commercials.
Food imagery in marketing is all about creating the most appealing visual possible, whether through AI or other tricks of the trade. Embracing these techniques can help businesses present their products in the best light, making them irresistible to potential customers. So, next time you see a mouth-watering food image, remember: the magic behind it might just be artificial intelligence.
All the AI-generated images mentioned were created using Stable Diffusion 3 with a custom large language model (LLM) on a local machine.