If you’ve scrolled social media in the last week, you may have seen some very strange takeaway food. Food delivery app Just Eat paused a trial of AI-generated menu photos after customers started sharing pictures that didn’t match the dishes at all. It’s a funny story, but it’s also a useful lesson for any business deciding between real photos and AI-generated images for its website, menus, ads, or social media.
What happened with Just Eat’s AI menu photos
According to BBC News and The Grocer, Just Eat had been testing AI to create pictures for restaurant menu items that didn’t have photos yet. The idea was to help smaller independent takeaways show their food quickly and cheaply, since menu photos are known to help sales.
The problem: the AI read menu text too literally. A “soda bread” breakfast became bacon and eggs floating in a glass of cola. A misspelled “garlic bread plane” turned into bread shaped like an airplane. Other dishes were simply the wrong food. The images were labeled as AI-generated, but that didn’t stop customers from posting the worst examples online.
Just Eat apologized, said it is removing the inaccurate images, and paused the rollout while it keeps developing the tool. Notably, the company also said it already works with tens of thousands of restaurants on their food imagery, including funding professional local photographers.
Buyers still prefer human-made images
The timing lines up with another story making the rounds. Digital Camera World reported on surveys from the stock platform Storyblocks of more than 1,400 people who license images and video for work. In plain terms:
- About two-thirds said human-made content is higher quality than AI-generated content.
- Most of them (87 percent) had still used some AI-generated visual or audio content in the past year.
- Half had rejected a stock asset specifically because it was AI-generated.
- Most respondents wanted AI-generated content clearly labeled.
Keep in mind these are surveys of one platform’s customers, not every business. Still, the message is consistent: people are using AI tools, but when it comes to images that represent a real product, place, or person, they trust the real thing more.
Why accuracy matters more than speed
The Just Eat mix-up is a perfect example of the biggest risk with AI images for a business: they show what a computer guessed, not what you actually offer. That matters any time a customer will compare the picture to reality.
- Customers notice. If the food, venue, product, or team on your website doesn’t match what people get in person, trust takes a hit.
- Mistakes spread fast. A strange image is easy to screenshot and share, and the joke usually lands on the business.
- Labels don’t fix a wrong picture. Even a clearly labeled AI image still sets the wrong expectation if it isn’t accurate.
- Real moments can’t be re-prompted. Your actual event, your actual space, and your actual people only exist once. A photographer captures what really happened.
Where real photos make the biggest difference
At Grey Bug Photography we focus on event coverage and professional headshots in San Antonio and across Texas, shooting on the Nikon Z9 and Z8. Here’s where we’d always choose a real photo over a generated one:
- Team headshots. Clients and recruiters want to see the real person they’ll meet. A consistent set of headshots makes your website and LinkedIn pages look current and trustworthy.
- Events and conferences. Summits, galas, networking mixers, and community celebrations give you a library of authentic images for social posts, newsletters, and next year’s promotion.
- Your venue or storefront. If people will walk through your door, show them what they’ll actually see.
- Products and menus. Anything a customer buys based on a photo should look like what they’ll receive.
Smart, honest ways to use AI
We’re not anti-technology. AI tools can be genuinely helpful for things like drafting captions, brainstorming layouts, or speeding up routine editing tasks. A good rule of thumb for business owners:
- Use AI for ideas and workflow, not as a stand-in for real products, places, or people.
- If you do publish an AI-generated image, label it clearly and make sure it doesn’t mislead.
- Check your platform and industry rules. Some marketplaces and organizations now have AI image policies.
- Build a library of your own real photos so you’re never stuck filling gaps with guesses.
The bottom line
Just Eat’s AI photo trial was meant to save time and money, but it showed how quickly inaccurate images can backfire. For San Antonio businesses, the takeaway is simple: when an image represents what you really offer, a real photo is still the safest and most convincing choice.
Need authentic headshots or event photos for your business? Contact Grey Bug Photography to talk about coverage in San Antonio and across Texas.
