I do think that AI signage/advertising is the new signifier of low-effort, low-skill output and that is how it will be perceived by clientele.
Similar to someone just scrawling a sandwich board sign in chalk (which at this point I would prefer).
Businesses will stand out from a taste perspective by continuing to hire human effort to make recognisable human output.
Writing in signs and menus in chalk has been a signal for a high quality restaurant for as long as I can remember. With photos of the food, and/or ring bound menus being the worst.
I knew someone that actually got a degree in like letterprinting with a minor in menu design. She went from town-to-town creating these beautiful chalk menu designs and lived a pretty modest life.
One day a tattoo parlor asked her to make a sign. She did. They asked if she had ever thought about getting into tattooing. She hadn't. They gave her an apprenticeship.
After completing her apprenticeship, she's now booked so far into advance that she closed her book to the public.
I think about her all the time now, what with software engineering going the way that it is. What lateral like passion could I transition to, as she did?
Photos of the food, at least in the US, started with "immigrant" restaurants. When Thai/Vietnamese/Chinese restaurants started opening up in areas without high concentrations of those people, they'd put photos in the menu so you could see what you were getting since that wouldn't be clear from the names or descriptions in the menu. A lot of these restaurants were cheap, which is why I think you associate it with low-quality restaurants.
U.S. chains like IHOP and Denny's beat the mom-and-pop immigrant restaurants by decades (and they are truly terrible). I wouldn't be surprised if they got the idea from even lower quality chains like McDonald's, but I'm not old enough to know.
Chalk writing robot/printer in the making ...
The Tour De France had one a long time ago, writing chalk signage on the roads [1]. I had to search for the YouTube video about it....
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khffa2GkvPE
I did say "scrawl",
> Similar to someone just scrawling a sandwich board sign in chalk
As opposed to what? This is usually a sign of quality. If it’s in chalk it’s because it changes as the restaurant experiments and tries new things.
Escaping AI slop will become a privilege for the wealthy.