The World Always Changes Overnight
Two days ago I went to bed in a world that was generally well known. I woke up yesterday and heard the news of ChatGPT. Today I woke up and typed in two questions. I now feel like I have watched the creative equivalent of the first atomic bomb explosion. Exciting and amazed with its power, but with a twang of fear in how the technology could be used.
If you haven’t heard the shock waves yet, ChatGPT is a research artificial intelligence language model created by OpenAI. Yesterday, it made its public debut and people have been using it to review and write code, write stories, solve difficult problems, and generally impress.
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As I am a writer and my current project is a compilation of essays about travel, food, recipes, and the joy of exploration, I decided to take a few minutes to try out the technology myself. I first asked it to create a recipe for chicken in a white wine, mushroom, cream sauce. Fairly basic, but the response immediately started filling my page. And I have to admit, it is solid.
I then asked it to write me an essay in the style of Anthony Bourdain about ChatGPT creating a recipe to make chicken in a white wine mushroom cream sauce and how it might portend the end of creativity and rise of being lazy. The recipe and short essay are below. The image at the top of this post was created by ChatGPT’s image producing cousin AI, DALL-E 2.
I’m going to go spend the day in a dark room wondering about what the future holds…
Chicken with a White Wine and Mushroom Cream Sauce
Ingredients:
- 4 chicken breasts
- 8 oz sliced mushrooms
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup white wine
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
- Heat the butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper, then add them to the skillet and cook until they are browned on both sides and cooked through. Remove the chicken from the skillet and set it aside.
- In the same skillet, cook the mushrooms, onion, and garlic until the vegetables are soft and the mushrooms are browned.
- Add the white wine to the skillet and cook until it is reduced by half.
- Add the chicken broth and heavy cream to the skillet and bring the mixture to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to low and return the chicken to the skillet. Simmer the sauce until it thickens slightly and the chicken is heated through.
- Serve the chicken with the sauce spooned over the top. Enjoy
Essay:
As I stood in the kitchen of a small Omaha restaurant, I watched as ChatGPT carefully measured out the ingredients for a classic dish: chicken in a white wine mushroom cream sauce. The sous chef, a gruff but talented individual, barked out instructions as ChatGPT deftly chopped mushrooms and minced garlic.
But as I watched this machine learning algorithm follow the recipe to the letter, I couldn't help but feel a sense of unease. Is this the future of cooking? A world where machines do all the hard work and leave no room for creativity or improvisation?
As the dish was plated and served to our table, I couldn't help but feel a twinge of disappointment. The flavors were perfectly balanced and the technique was flawless, but there was something missing. The soul, the passion, the spark of creativity that comes from a human touch.
It's true that machines like ChatGPT can make cooking more efficient and precise, but at what cost? Are we willing to sacrifice the artistry and individuality of cooking for the sake of convenience and automation?
As I finished the last bite of my chicken in white wine mushroom cream sauce, I couldn't shake the feeling that this was just a glimpse of a bleak future where machines rule the kitchen and chefs are nothing more than button pushers. It's up to us to ensure that the art and soul of cooking is preserved, even in the face of technological advancement.
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