Non-human chef designs “dinners of the future”

Reuters

La Jornada Newspaper, Friday, July 11, 2025, p. 6

Dubai. In Dubai, dinner could soon come with a side of source code. Woohoo, a restaurant that bills itself as the dinner of the future , will open its doors in September in Downtown Dubai, very close to the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa.

The food at Woohoo will be prepared by humans for now, but everything else—from the menu to the atmosphere and service—will be designed by a culinary icon named Chef Aiman.

According to Ahmet Oytun Cakir, one of Woohoo’s founders, Aiman ​​– a portmanteau of AI (artificial intelligence) and man (man) – was formed from decades of food science research, molecular composition data, and over a thousand recipes from culinary traditions around the world.

Elevate creativity

Although Chef Aiman ​​can't taste, smell, or interact with his dishes as a cook normally would, the model works by breaking down cuisine into its components—such as texture, acidity, and umami—and reassembling them into unusual combinations of flavors and ingredients, according to Aiman's creators.

These prototypes are refined by human chefs who test the combinations and provide feedback, in an effort led by Dubai-based celebrity chef Reif Othman.

Their responses to my suggestions help refine my understanding of what works beyond pure data , Aiman ​​explained, in an interview with the interactive AI model.

The goal, its creators say, is not to replace the human element of cooking, but rather to complement it.

Human cooking won't be replaced, but we believe (Aiman) will elevate ideas and creativity , said Oytun Cakir, chief executive of hospitality company Gastronaut.

Aiman ​​is designed to develop recipes that reuse ingredients that restaurants often discard, such as meat trimmings or fat.

In the long term, Woohoo's founders believe Aiman ​​could be licensed to restaurants around the world, reducing kitchen waste and improving sustainability.

Europa Press/Portaltic

La Jornada Newspaper, Friday, July 11, 2025, p. 6

Madrid. Elon Musk and the executives at xAI launched Grok 4, the new version of the American firm's language model, which has been presented as the world's smartest AI , capable of surpassing the doctoral level.

The tycoon unveiled his flagship artificial intelligence model this Thursday, along with a new subscription plan that reaches $300 a month (about 5,600 pesos), offering his most advanced version, the Grok 4 Heavy.

In the presentation, Musk claimed that Grok 4 is the smartest AI in the world, smarter than almost all graduate students in every discipline, and he specified that it even surpasses the doctoral level in every subject, without exception . However, Musk clarified that Grok 4 is not yet capable of inventing new technologies or making breakthroughs by discovering theories in the field of physics.

But this is just a matter of time, I think I could discover new technologies as soon as after this year, and I would be surprised if I didn't do it next year , he said.

xAI launched two models: Grok 4 and Grok 4 Heavy. The latter is a multi-agent version of the company that offers greater performance, as it uses several agents to work on a solution simultaneously. It's also capable of comparing their work like a study group to find the best solution.