Just Eat said on Monday it had deleted a batch of AI‑generated food photos that appeared on its platform after the machine learning model confused the word "soda" with "soda bread."
The glitch turned a bacon‑and‑egg dish from a Belfast café into a picture of a glass of fizzy cola with a floating strip of bacon and an egg inside. The image circulated on social media, sparking ridicule and a flurry of comments from diners and chefs.
Just Eat, which serves more than 30,000 restaurants across the UK, has traditionally relied on local photographers to supply menu images. The company said it had recently begun testing AI to fill gaps where photos were missing, but the trial highlighted the technology’s difficulty with contextual nuance.
A Just Eat spokesperson told the BBC the mistake was a one‑off and that the platform would temporarily halt the AI feature while it re‑trains the model. The company also pledged to review its data sources and add human oversight before re‑introducing the tool.
Industry analysts warn that rapid AI adoption without rigorous validation can erode consumer trust, especially in food delivery where visual cues influence ordering decisions. Just Eat’s pause signals a cautionary turn for the sector as it balances automation with accuracy.
The firm will announce a new release of its AI image service by July, after completing a thorough audit of its training data and quality controls.