Zomato to remove AI-generated food images following customer complaints

Zomato's CEO, Deepinder Goyal, announced on Sunday that the food delivery platform will be removing AI-generated food images from its listings after receiving multiple customer complaints.

The AI-generated images, which were intended to enhance the visual appeal of dishes, have been criticized for being misleading.

Goyal acknowledged the concerns on social media platform X, explaining that the use of these images has led to a "breach of trust" between customers and restaurants. He noted that the misleading images have resulted in increased refund requests and lower customer ratings.

"We use AI in various aspects of our operations to improve efficiency, but we strongly discourage its use for food images in restaurant menus," Goyal stated. He urged restaurant partners to stop using AI-generated images and announced that Zomato would begin actively removing such images from the platform by the end of the month.

Last year, Zomato introduced PicNic AI, a tool designed to help restaurant partners enhance the visual presentation of their food images. However, in light of recent feedback, Goyal emphasized that Zomato will no longer accept AI-generated dish images and will implement automation to detect and remove them.

Goyal also encouraged restaurant owners to invest in real food photography, offering Zomato's photography services at no additional cost. He assured restaurant partners that Zomato does not profit from this process, emphasizing that the platform's priority is to maintain trust and authenticity.

Zomato's decision comes as the company reported significant growth in the first quarter of FY25. The online food aggregator saw a 74% increase in revenue, reaching Rs 4,206 crore, and a 126% rise in net profit, which climbed to Rs 253 crore compared to Rs 2 crore in the same quarter last year.