On "NYT Cooking’s AI assistant saved my weeknight chicken, but almost ruined my cake"

AI recipe assistants work great for the thing they're actually good at—salvaging a weeknight dinner when you're stuck—and fall apart the moment you ask them to do anything that requires intuition or taste judgment, which should tell you something important about where these tools fit in the workflow. A ChatGPT-style interface wrapping recipes solves a real, grinding problem for busy people, but treating it as a substitute for knowing your own cooking instincts is how you end up with inedible cake. If you're using it to unstick yourself from decision paralysis or get a last-minute protein idea, keep it in your pocket. If you're treating it as a substitute for judgment, you're going to have a bad dinner.