Ethos, a restaurant claiming to be Austin's No. 1 restaurant, is unique in more than a few ways. The restaurant, which has over 73,000 followers on Instagram, posts pictures of stunning restaurant food, has the best chefs employed an billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk work behind the bar.
Sounds too good to be true? That's because it is. Ethos is a completely AI-generated restaurant whose hyper-realistic photos have left people bamboozled.
"This restaurant does not exist. Ethos, which claims to be Austin’s #1 restaurant, has 72k followers on Instagram. It seems normal until you realize the photos of the food + venue are AI. The posts get thousands of likes and comments from people who have no idea," said one user sharing photos of the restaurant and its creations. (Also read: Musk’s AI Grok sends him and Trump to prison for committing crimes: Watch)
The account regularly posts foods that seem too good to be true but are "real" to the naked eye, like a honey comb cheesecake or a Moo Deng shaped croissant.
Take a look at the restaurant's profile here:
{{/usCountry}}The account regularly posts foods that seem too good to be true but are "real" to the naked eye, like a honey comb cheesecake or a Moo Deng shaped croissant.
Take a look at the restaurant's profile here:
{{/usCountry}}The AI restaurant even posted photos of Amazon boss Jeff Bezos and tech billionaire Elon Musk working as bartenders. The posts have gone viral on social media sparking an ongoing conversation over the use of AI-generated content and its deceptive/misleading issues on social media.
In addition to fake food, Ethos has fake chefs, managers and has even won prestigious awards that are, yes you guessed it, completely made up. The restaurant even has its own website where people can make a reservation at 4.30 am on every first Monday of each month and purchase merch like T-shirts that reads, "I dined at Ethos."
Why does it exist?
After a while, most followers have caught the joke behind the account but some are still to understand the intent behind the AI restaurant. "I love it all, but your address/location is impossible to find anywhere. It isn't on your social, not on your website, and when I Google map it, I'm given a consultant company. Love the branding but this seems like an obvious piece of missing information. I want to come visit but have no idea where to go," one user said.
Another user wrote, "I don’t know what’s funnier, the dinocroissant or the fact that so many people in the comments think it’s real."
X users have come up with their own theories as to why Ethos exists. Some believe that the creators of the account are ramping up likes and followers only to sell the account to another company or restaurant with the same name.