My non-AI brownies came out MUCH better and I even used fewer ingredients. Human verification, at least for now, still has some place.

In retrospect, the AI model didn't seem to consider that just because I have an ingredient doesn't mean I need to use it, even if some worse recipe does.

I'm sure my prompts played some role in this, but the fact remains that it was far less work for me to use current non-AI tools to find a recipe that other humans liked.

AI also made me miss out on the serendipity of discovering that I have an ingredient I'd forgotten about (because the website gave me a recipe that was one ingredient shy in my results). It turned out to be highly rated, used fewer ingredients, and called for a close alternative I thought I didn't have but did.

I don't have a big grand point here except to say that AI isn't the magic bullet everyone says it is. It's cool, but there's still times when it just doesn't get humanity. We're messy, forgetful, and care about how our food tastes. Yes, AI gave me brownies, but they were off... Kind of like the double thumbs thing, except with food texture. And it was probably more expensive than just using a dumb search tool that has existed for years.

I've had the same experience on many websites looking for things like engine coolant. Instead of entering my vehicle attributes in ten seconds and getting a product, I'm forced to go back and forth with a chat bot that frustrates me as it takes much longer or fucks up. We're reinventing wheels too early in many cases.

Anyway, that's my brownie story. Thanks for reading.