San Francisco Restaurant Defaced Over AI-Generated Food Photos

A San Francisco restaurant has found out the hard way just how strong the anti-AI sentiment is after their cafe was defaced by disgruntled locals.

AJ and Lyndsey Lozano had recently opened Grind & Unwind on Haight Street when they made the poor decision to put up a large board full of AI-generated food photos in their window.

The obviously AI-generated images were quickly noticed by annoyed residents, one of whom snapped a picture and shared it to Reddit with the caption, “Yum, slop.”

“That coleslaw looks terrible, and all the bread looks like reptile skin,” writes one person. “If they put this much effort into marketing, just imagine how much they care about food,” adds another.

On Instagram, Carlos Terminel writes. “Yes it’s AI slop, but it’s ALSO false advertising. You really think if I ordered a ham, rosemary, and brie sandwich it would look like that?”

Another person says they would “rather see s**tty photos taken in a light box with a one-megapixel camera than whatever this AI s*** is supposed to be.”

But things got even worse for Grind & Unwind when someone actually vandalized the cafe’s facade with the word “Serious” sprawled in red graffiti.

The Lozanos tell SFGate that this wasn’t the response they were expecting from their AI-generated food images.

“I want people to come to our restaurant, but, like, why is this such a big deal that it influences people on such an intense level,” Lyndsey says. “Like, is it really that horrific that you have to act on such a feeling?”

The couple says that the AI slop sign was supposed to be only temporary. They have since removed the board and painted over the graffiti, which reportedly cost them $700, replacing it with LED lights and a homemade pastry display.

“Honestly, we just kinda wanna move forward and forget about the sign and hope people come try our quality food and really make it a cool spot that locals can gather,” Lozano adds.