Artificial intelligence can help you cook like a Jersey Shore chef
Will artificial intelligence take over the world one day?
Maybe. Maybe not.
But it can take over your kitchen, thanks to Chef Lou Smith.
The owner of Blend on Main and The Peach Pit Cafe in Manasquan offers cooking help via ChatGPT, a chatbot powered by California-based artificial intelligence research company OpenAI.
“I like offering the service. Right now, I have about 600 people using Chef Lou GPT,” Smith said. “You have to keep adapting, otherwise you just fade away.”
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
More:We asked AI for the best restaurants at the Jersey Shore. Here’s what it came up with
Users ask for meal ideas and cooking instructions, and receive an answer based on the recipes and information Smith has fed into the program.
“You can ask, ‘Hey Lou, I only have 4 ounces of halibut, I have tomatoes and some onions. Give me a dish that would require only cooking on a stovetop, and I want to use the style of Capri, Italy, for three people,” he said. “And it just spits it out.
“I can show you how to make a stroganoff,” he continued, “show you how to make a stir-fry, show you how to make sushi rice. And it’s learning form me daily. Anything that goes online (about) me, it just keeps learning.”
Smith, who launched “Ask Chef Lou” when the AI buzz picked up last year, is no stranger to technology in his kitchen. On weekends, he powers up four cameras in his restaurant kitchen and livestreams the action to more than 60,000 followers on TikTok. He shows food being cooked and plated, and takes viewers on tours around the restaurant.
“All of my kitchen help have fans; it’s like a show,” he said, “and people are coming and traveling from other states to stay upstairs (at the Inn on Main Hotel) and be in Manasquan.”
Sarah Griesemer joined the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey in 2003 and has been writing all things food since 2014. Send restaurant tips to sgriesemer@gannettnj.com, follow on Instagram at Jersey Shore Eats and subscribe to our Jersey Shore Eats newsletter.
