Embracing the Kitchen: A Cook-Off with AI Support

When I tell folks that I can cook, it doesn’t imply that I often do. Sure, if I find myself in the kitchen, I can whip up something passable. It might not earn accolades, but it won’t top any worst-of lists either. My culinary creations are more about sustenance than gourmet satisfaction. This experience always brings to mind an important life lesson: just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.

So, when I received an invitation to a festive culinary competition with OpenAI Singapore in early December, which promised to showcase how ChatGPT could assist with planning and cooking for the holidays, my skepticism was palpable. Unless the AI chatbot could literally don an apron and season my chicken for me, I figured it would just be a passenger in this culinary journey. I tend to appreciate fewer voices when I’m trying to remember whether I’ve added salt to my pasta.

Yet, I often find myself declaring, “I wish AI could handle my dishes and laundry,” a sentiment that suggests in its ideal form, AI should relieve us of mundane tasks, giving us more time to engage in what we love. Eager to see if ChatGPT could lend a hand with my most dreaded chore, I entertained the thought that perhaps transitioning from the couch to the kitchen wouldn’t be all that daunting, especially given my fixation on Netflix’s Culinary Class Wars.

At the very least, I hoped its frequently flattering nature would convince me that I was reality TV material, motivating me to step up my game.

A PROMISING START?

The rules for the cook-off were clear—well, as clear as things can be for those of us who probably should have never made it through Home Economics class. Participants were organized into teams of four to five at The Providore Cooking Studio.

Armed with six ingredients selected from a provided array, each group was tasked with crafting a dish to serve one or two, based on a randomly assigned theme. To top it off, we only had 45 minutes to execute our culinary creation.