BuzzFeed has jumped into the race of media companies to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) in their operations. On Tuesday (May 23) it announced “Botatouille”, an AI-powered application which can generate personalised recipes on the basis of items stored in one’s refrigerator.
BuzzFeed has described Botatouille as “the first AI-powered culinary companion” which will suggest recipes on the basis of items already present in the refrigerator. It added that the AI will be accompanied by a chatbot feature which will allow people to ask questions based on culinary while they do the cooking, as per the press release issued by the company.
The name Botatouille resembles the title of the Disney movie Ratatouille which was about the cartoon rat-chef. It is among the many AI-generated content, like quizzes and games, that BuzzFeed hopes will be successful in bringing users back to its platform after its award-winning news division was shut down earlier this month.
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BuzzFeed will “focus on making the Internet more fun”, says CEO
Speaking to investors, BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti said the company will “focus on making the Internet more fun”.
“Readers are sick of all the negative news in their social media feeds. They will increasingly want social media platforms to provide an escape where they can find entertainment, joy and fun,” Peretti said to investors.
“Shifting from a sort of crumbling wave of social to a growing wave of generative AI to me is an exciting transition. And I think there are things we could definitely learn to make sure we capture more enduring value from a technological trend,” he added.
In January, BuzzFeed informed employees that AI is being incorporated into its products to ‘enhance’ its quizzes and content.
Last month, the closing of BuzzFeed News was announced by Peretti, a step that was taken after many rounds of deep cuts.
In 2021, the news division received a Pulitzer prize for carrying out an investigation into the mass detention of Muslims by China.
WATCH | BuzzFeed News is shutting down as part of company-wide layoffs
Peretti mentioned various challenges, which included the pandemic, the slowdown in digital advertising, the declining stock market, and changing audience habits.
The decision to shut down the news division was met with deep disappointment from the staff. The leadership of Peretti and his skills in managing the company were also severely criticised. People slamming the decision also argued that the layoffs were another example of devaluation of corporate leadership of workers and displayed the firm’s eagerness to replace humans with AI.
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