People prefer AI-generated food images to actual photos of food, researchers have discovered. The results were consistent time and again during the study. This was particularly true when the participants didn’t know the origins of the photographs.

The study was published in Food Quality and Preference. It suggests that AI-generated images excel at highlighting the yummiest visual aspects of food photography.

What makes food look delicious?

The researchers say that the AI images were especially good at producing images that show symmetry, uniform shape, glossiness, ripe colours, and good quality lighting. These preferences go back to our caveman brain, where eating the wrong type of food could result in illness or even death.

“As humans, we tend to feel uneasy with objects pointing towards us, interpreting them as threats, even when it’s just food,” explains the lead author of the study, Giovanbattista Califano.

The researchers asked 297 participants to rate real or AI-generated food images on a scale from “Not at all appetizing” to “Extremely appetizing.” The images depicted a range of natural, processed, and ultra-processed foods, from apples and carrots to chocolate milkshakes and french fries.

As photographers, we all know just how difficult it can be to take exceptional food photos. You usually need a food stylist or professional chef, you need a number of props and tools, and, of course, you need high-quality lighting in most cases. It’s not as simple as purely taking a photo.

Interestingly enough, several food delivery companies and restaurants have been using AI-generated images on their apps, complete with all the oddities that you would expect. Bowls that blend into chopping boards and possible sandwiches mean that these products don’t actually exist.

Advertising standards

This is a potential minefield for both advertising standards agencies because there are strict rules about what you can and can’t use when advertising products.

Essentially, if more and more people switch to using AI-generated images instead of photographs we are on a fast track to needing full disclosure of the origins of a photo. Particularly after this week’s furore over Princess Kate’s poor Photoshopping of her family photo.

But back to this particular study. What it might be better saying is that people prefer high-quality appetizing images of food to low-quality unappealing images of food, regardless of whether they were made with AI or a camera. No surprises there, then!

[via medical express]