GoKawiilMegi Endeladze never expected to be at the center of an AI backlash.
She and her husband opened Penny's Coffee Shop in downtown Buffalo, New York three years ago. Endeladze kept her 9-to-5 as a chiropractor while spending her free time helping out in the shop.
One of the duties she relished was photographing the drinks and menu items, including a few signature items like a cheesy bread dish from their native country, Georgia, for their social media channels and website.
Penny's Coffee Shop would switch seasonal drinks every few months, and Endeladze would photograph the new items herself, and it would end up being a full-day event. "You have to time it so the foam doesn't deflate," Endeladze explained to Business Insider.
Then, one of the more artistically gifted baristas would create a chalkboard sign for the new drink menus or promotional specials. Over the years, there had been several employees skilled with lettering and design, and the duty had always rotated among them, always done in-house.
But this fall, the aesthetically inclined barista who most recently chalked the signs had moved out of town, Endelaydsze said, and there was no one on staff at the moment who had the skill set to do a chalkboard. So Endelaydsze decided to get a poster printed up instead. She considered doing what she has done in the past: taking her own photos and editing them together with Canva. But with a newborn baby, she figured she could save herself some time and do it with AI.
"I felt like a genius, and made posters using AI and frame them," she told me. 'Not knowing how much damage it would cause my coffee shop."
She used ChatGPT to make an image of the menu, and got the poster professionally printed up for around $150. She also bought a plastic poster holder that cost around $200.
Then, she posted a photo of the new menu sign to Instagram. Very soon, the negative comments started rolling in:
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