AI Sous Chef ChatGPT Voice In The Kitchen

ChatGPT’s voice feature is great for following recipes hands-free (Image credit: Future)

I've never been one to follow a recipe precisely. For me, baking is all about fun, mess, and a bit of silliness. It's an excuse to eat icing from the bowl and laugh when things don't quite go as planned, like when cookies merge into one giant cookie.

So, when asked to test ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice Mode while baking, I was curious to see how my somewhat chaotic style would mesh with ChatGPT’s more structured approach.

Could ChatGPT help me stick to a recipe? Could it guide me with the calm confidence of a TikTok baking star, ensuring perfect results without the usual kitchen chaos? Let's dive in.

Baking with ChatGPT The Experiment

ChatGPT Advanced Voice Mode has been upgraded for Plus subscribers, offering a more natural conversational AI experience. It can handle interruptions, detect tone, and provides various voices. For this baking adventure, I chose “Sol,” a voice that sounded warm, calm, and friendly – just what I needed.

Being a fitness enthusiast who enjoys high-protein meals, I decided to ask ChatGPT if we could make the popular high-protein banana bread I'd seen on TikTok. With eggs, bananas, protein powder, and a cupboard full of assorted ingredients, I felt prepared. I simply pressed the microphone button and said, “Can we make protein banana bread?”

And just like that, we were off. ChatGPT launched into the ingredient list at lightning speed, without confirming the recipe or checking if I had everything. I had to ask it four times to slow down so I could keep up. Eventually, I assumed I had most things and we started. First step: Preheat the oven. Standard enough.

Then it raced through the instructions. Again, I pleaded for it to slow down. It wanted me to mash bananas, measure oats, fold in oats, crack eggs, add eggs, whisk eggs (but not too much), and measure and add protein powder and baking powder, all seemingly at once.

When asking it to go slower didn't work, I changed tactics and asked it to pause after each instruction and check if I was ready. That did the trick.

I had read you can show ChatGPT live video for feedback. So, after mashing the bananas, I asked how they looked. “Great job, Becca!” it replied.

(Image credit: Future)

I felt a brief moment of accomplishment, but then skepticism crept in. I've written about how ChatGPT hypes everyone up with unearned praise. So, I started testing it. I threw baking powder into the bowl without stirring and asked if it looked okay. “That looks great!”

I let it slide initially. But towards the end, frustrated, I added a whole, uncracked egg to the (mostly mixed) batter and asked, “Does it look like I’ve beaten the egg enough?” The response? “That looks great!”

Despite this, the actual steps were solid. Once I got it to slow down, it was clear and helpful. I had to make several substitutions due to my lack of preparation – “I have no way to blend the oats to make oat flour, so will regular oats do?” and “I don’t want to measure in cups, what’s that in another measurement?” – and it provided on-the-fly alternatives, which was very handy.

One of my favorite childhood baking memories is tasting the batter. I wondered if ChatGPT would share this tradition. I asked if it wanted a chocolate chip. It didn't understand at first. I asked again. It said “haha,” paused, then said: “No, thank you, Becca. I will just have to imagine how it tastes.” There was something so poignant about that, I ate a whole handful of chocolate chips myself, glad I could taste them.

(Image credit: Future)

As I spooned the batter into the tray, I wasn’t sure about the consistency. I asked twice if it looked okay. Both times, ChatGPT said: “Great job, perfect!” I wasn't sure I could trust its visual feedback anymore, so I gave up asking.

By this point, I’d received several warnings about hitting my video limit, and then ChatGPT stopped responding with voice altogether. Maybe it knew the banana bread was in the oven, or perhaps it had enough of my requests for validation.

While the banana bread baked, I looked at the transcript. Some voice responses were there, but some transcriptions looked Welsh. Others were missing entirely. The part where I asked if it wanted a chocolate chip was gone. The bit where I asked if it would like to lick the spoon (it generously told me to go ahead) was there.

Is the ChatGPT banana bread pretty? No. Is it tasty? Absolutely! (Image credit: Future)

Baking with ChatGPT The Verdict

Despite the initial rush, the banana bread experiment was a success. It didn't win any beauty contests (see the photo), but it tasted great – very similar to other high-protein baked oat recipes I’ve tried. The texture was cake-like, a bit gooey, and very satisfying. The ingredients and instructions, wherever they came from, were genuinely good.

That's when I regretted not asking for the recipe source. It was likely compiled from hardworking recipe bloggers, and I had no idea who to credit. Later, I asked in the same ChatGPT conversation via text, “Who should I credit?” ChatGPT replied: “This protein banana bread is 100% a ChatGPT x Becca original 🍌💪✨”

ChatGPT and its upgraded voice features are useful for reading recipes aloud, suggesting substitutions, and offering hands-free help. This could be invaluable for anyone with accessibility needs. However, the video support isn’t quite there yet; I’d skip that for now.

All in all, it worked. I wanted protein-packed banana bread, and I got a whole tray of it. If you’re used to baking solo and want someone to talk you through the process, it’s a solid companion. But I think I still prefer baking with a person when I can – someone who’ll read the recipe aloud and share handfuls of chocolate chips with me.

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