A.I.: It’s What’s for Dinner | Eater SF

"In CloudChef's Palo Alto kitchen I found a commercial space that looks ordinary at a glance—industrial ranges and a dry pantry—but is retrofitted with barcode-labeled ingredients, desktop monitors, cameras and sensors that record video, infrared and thermal data, and scales to create a machine‑readable recipe file from a single cook-through. The system turns those measurements into real-time digital cues on monitors and audible alerts that tell minimally trained gig workers exactly when to weigh, stir, or remove a pan, meaning most staff can begin working after five to ten minutes of training while only a kitchen manager needs deeper tech knowledge. The company positions itself as “Spotify for food,” rotating recipes weekly, paying creators three to 15 percent per order, and offering dishes like Srijith Gopinathan’s Vellore Chicken Curry for $25; the team also uses OpenAI to translate instructions such as “cook till done” into sensor-driven actions. Founders emphasize a “co-botic” model—humans working with technology—while critics warn about cost, margin pressure, and whether software can truly replicate a chef’s intuition." - Lauren Saria