AI nutrition tracking features in popular fitness apps are producing wildly inaccurate calorie and macro counts despite promises to simplify food logging through automated photo analysis. The Verge tested AI-powered nutrition tools in Ladder, Oura Advisor, January and MyFitnessPal. Ladder's AI estimated the outlet's carefully measured 355-calorie breakfast at 780 calories and got the macro breakdown wrong even after the reviewer manually edited entries to include exact brands and amounts.
Oura Advisor routinely mistook matcha protein shakes for green smoothies. January misidentified barbecue sauce as teriyaki sauce and failed to detect mushrooms in a chicken dish. None of the apps could identify healthier ingredient swaps or accurately log ethnic foods. Oura classified a mix of edamame, quinoa and brown rice as mashed potatoes and white rice. Ladder logged dal makhani curry as chicken soup. The AI features require extensive manual corrections that negate any time savings from automated logging, the publication concluded in its scathing review.
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