AI-Generated Images Impact Food Industry Refunds
- Nearly two weeks ago, Harsh Shah - owner of Mumbai-based bakery dessert Therapy - was going through refund claims by users for 'damaged items' when he found something...
- One of the customers claimed that her Almond Praline Strawberries Dark Chocolate cake - costing ₹2,500 - had melted and sought a refund of ₹1,820.
- On a closer look, Shah realised that the image sent to him was morphed using an artificial intelligence (AI) tool.
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AI-Generated Food Complaints: A Growing Problem for Indian Restaurants and Delivery Platforms
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The Rise of AI-Generated Food Complaints
Nearly two weeks ago, Harsh Shah – owner of Mumbai-based bakery dessert Therapy – was going through refund claims by users for ‘damaged items’ when he found something unusual.
One of the customers claimed that her Almond Praline Strawberries Dark Chocolate cake – costing ₹2,500 – had melted and sought a refund of ₹1,820.
On a closer look, Shah realised that the image sent to him was morphed using an artificial intelligence (AI) tool. “There were hints. Strawberries looked different from the ones we use. Moreover, that cake flavour does not have a melting tendency,” says shah, adding that the user might have received some compensation as the fraud was caught on their level and not by the aggregator.
“Aggregators prefer quick redressal and, in most cases, the entire conversation is done on text, which starts with a chatbot. With the volume of orders and level of checks, it might potentially be easier to slide in such cases from there,” says Shah.
Platform Response and Safeguards
Acknowledging that food complaints are treated with utmost seriousness and trust, Aditya Mangla, chief executive officer (CEO), Zomato, said the platform has employed advanced systems to detect rare misuse.”We’ve already rolled out safeguards and early-detection models and are scaling them responsibly,” Mangla told Business standard.
Growing Incidence and Industry Impact
The practice, still new in India, has seen a sudden spike with at least four such cases being reported in the past 20 days.
An Indore-based restaurant reportedly called out two such cases where the users claimed to have found a dead fly in the food packets. Disclosing the details on its social media, the eatery says: “The cake looked completely clean, even though the user claimed that the fly was inside the cake. We ran