In the ongoing debate about the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in creative fields like art, writing, and cooking, Dubai’s Dodo Pizza has embraced AI for innovation. The popular pizza chain consulted ChatGPT to craft a unique pizza flavor tailored for Dubai’s diverse cultural landscape. The result? A new bestseller that customers are raving about.
Creating a Culturally-Inspired Pizza
Spartak Arutyunyan, head of menu development for Dodo Pizza in Dubai, shared with BBC that they asked ChatGPT to design “the best pizza for Dubai,” considering the city’s mix of cultures. “There’s so many cultures here,” Arutyunyan explained, highlighting the presence of Indians, Pakistanis, Filipinos, Arabs, and Europeans.
The AI’s suggestion was a pizza topped with Arab shawarma chicken, Indian grilled paneer cheese, Middle Eastern Za’atar herbs, and tahini sauce. According to Arutyunyan, this creation became “a huge hit and it’s still on the menu.” He admitted that while he wouldn’t have combined these ingredients himself, the resulting flavor mix was unexpectedly successful.
Unsuccessful AI Ideas
Not all AI-generated ideas made it to the menu, however. Suggestions like pizzas with strawberries and pasta or blueberries and breakfast cereal were not adopted. This follows a similar trend seen with other AI experiments, such as Finland’s AI-generated coffee blend, “AI-conic Coffee,” which also garnered attention for its novel concept.
Arutyunyan appreciates the use of AI in this creative process, stating, “As a chef, I wouldn’t mix these ingredients ever on a pizza, but still, the mix of flavors was surprisingly good.”
