--- title: "Restaurants Are Going Viral by Holding Up Handwritten Signs Pledging Not to Use AI Foodslop Posters" description: "Restaurant owners and chefs are uploading pictures of themselves on social media, pledging not to use AI for self-promotion. It's working." date: "2026-09-19" modified: "2026-09-19" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor.md" url: "https://futurism.com/future-society/restaurants-viral-handwritten-signs-ai-foodslop" categories: - "Future Society" --- # Restaurants Are Going Viral by Holding Up Handwritten Signs Pledging Not to Use AI Foodslop Posters ![Pictures of restaurant owners pledging not to use AI for promotion.]() *Instagram / Futurism* The allure of generative AI has turned public-facing billboards and restaurant menus into a Lovecraftian horror show. Bread that [resembles "reptile skin" and "alien larva"-like croissants]() have been putting off potential customers for months now. While owners are trying to lower costs by turning to AI for their promotional material, the off-putting signage has had the opposite effect, with users on social media lambasting local businesses for doing so. As [*404 Media* first noticed]() last month, some restaurants are finally catching onto the backfired advertising — and are pulling a 180 to score some easy points with the public. Owners and chefs are uploading pictures of themselves on social media, holding up pieces of paper, with variations of the message "We will not be using any AI to promote ourselves" handwritten on them. Since *404* published its story, the trend has really caught fire, with well-known chefs, like ["Chopped" champion and South Carolina-based Nikko Cagalanan](), Brooklyn-based Sicilian pizza chain [L&B Spumoni Gardens](), [Phoenix's Niu Mama](), and [many others](), vowing not to use AI for self-promotion. Some of these posts are getting hundreds of thousands of likes and hundreds of comments, indicating the posts are really striking a nerve. https://www.instagram.com/p/DdSW2yJmNQT/ It's the latest sign of a growing backlash against AI, tech that's infiltrating almost every aspects of our lives, often against our will. The movement has grown from simple annoyance to [public outrage](), particularly as polluting data centers continue to crop up across the country, [sparking a bipartisan crusade](). It's a particularly thorny subject in the gastronomy world. Cooking has always been a form of human expression and deeply entrenched in cultural values, something an AI model inherently isn't capable of. By relying on unintentionally disturbing images dreamed up by an AI, restaurants are sending a clear signal. "The AI images are a sort of shorthand for saying, 'Yes, we serve food, but it is slop, just like the photos we use to market it' — likely frozen and factory-made, shoved into a grease-caked frier, and still somehow lukewarm and soggy when you take your first bite," the [*New Yorker* wrote]() in a recent piece about the trend. However, by publicly pledging not to use AI — even with a hastily put together, handwritten note — businesses can easily gain their customers' confidence, considering the rapturous response on social media. "This is how you catch a fish," one user replied to a picture of Cagalanan holding up one such note. "Just gained a new fan and will be there asap!" another wrote. **More on AI food slop:** [*Restaurant in Major Trouble After Posting AI Pictures of “Its Food”*]() ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()