NYT Cooking’s AI assistant saved my weeknight chicken, but almost ruined my cake

The NYT Cooking app recently introduced an AI assistant trained on user comments and its extensive recipe database, designed to help users customize recipes on the fly. During a weeknight test, the author asked the AI to adapt a chicken and rice recipe based on a random assortment of fridge ingredients. The AI successfully generated a modified version with alternative ingredients and adjusted cooking instructions, ensuring the dish remained tasty. However, baking proved to be a trickier challenge. When the author converted a Bundt cake recipe into muffins and halved the ingredients, a subsequent mix-up between the original and modified versions in the app led to a near-mistake with the butter quantity. Despite these minor hiccups, the tool offers a streamlined alternative to reading hundreds of reader comments for substitution tips, functioning as a practical assistant while still requiring human oversight.