Ctrl+Alt+Delicious: Gastronomy in Dubai to get a software update

In Dubai, your dinner might soon come with a side of source code.

WOOHOO, a restaurant that bills itself as “dining in the future”, is set to open in September in central Dubai, a stone’s throw from the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa.

Food at WOOHOO will be assembled by humans, for now, but everything else – from the menu to ambience to service – will be designed by a culinary large-language-model called “Chef Aiman.”

Aiman – a portmanteau of “AI” and “man” – is trained on decades of food science research, molecular composition data and over a thousand recipes from cooking traditions around the world, said Ahmet Oytun Cakir, one of WOOHOO’s founders.

While Chef Aiman can’t taste, smell or interact with his dishes like a chef normally would, the model works by breaking cuisine down to its component parts like texture, acidity and umami, and reassembling them into unusual flavour and ingredient combinations, according to Aiman’s developers.

These prototypes are then refined by human cooks who taste the combinations and provide direction, in an effort led by renowned Dubai-based chef Reif Othman.

“Their responses to my suggestions help refine my understanding of what works beyond pure data,” Aiman explained, in an interview with the interactive AI model.

The goal, Aiman’s creators say, is not to supplant the human element of cooking but to complement it.

“Human cooking will not be replaced, but we believe (Aiman) will elevate the ideas, creativity,” said Oytun Cakir, who is also chief executive of hospitality company Gastronaut.

Aiman is designed to develop recipes that re-use ingredients often discarded by restaurants, like meat trimmings or fat, he said.

Longer term, WOOHOO’s founders believe Aiman could be licensed to restaurants across the globe, reducing kitchen waste and improving sustainability.