I’ve talked about learning is like Mexican food before; it contains the same core ingredients that are added in differing quantities and then folded differently. We cook it differently and present it as something new.

Adding 10% to the list price of course.

While tacos, burritos, and enchiladas might be the global face of Mexican cuisine, the country’s culinary heritage goes way beyond the familiar. Huitlacoche, chapulines, and escamoles are all unique ingredients in Mexican cuisine (a fungus, edible grasshoppers and ant larvae if you were interested).

What’s interesting recently is the introduction of a new ingredient – AI.

AI has appeared and is being sold as a substitute for pretty much every ingredient. It’s the core elements, it’s the wrapper, it’s the side dish, it’s the vegetables, it’s the rice…

But it isn’t. It’s synthetic. It’s not real however we want it to be and this simulated bit of content feels out of place. Adding it to existing authentic ingredients feels like we’re substituting the genuine for the artificial.

It’s bland. Mexican food has spice and interest – AI food is median, neutral, unadventurous. It has to be – the way that many tools and algorithms work is to produce the most common, likely, median result.

It’s mass produced and the same wherever you go. If you want fast food then you’re good; many chains work globally on presenting the same to everyone. We aren’t all the same however and personal choice needs to be reflected somewhere.

Lastly, it is ghost food. It contains ingredients which don’t go together since we know that AI hallucinates. You want smoked haggis in your fajita? AI will sort you out a recipe and tell you it’s authentic. Want a sauce made from Surströmming, the fermented Swedish herrings which is completely genuine? AI will how you pictures of it. Decide you’d like a burrito with a sprinkling of Lutefisk, Norwegian whitefish? AI will tell you it’s a bona fide Mexican classic.

Take care when you’re folding with these new ingredients – you might be caught out.