Jess Weatherbed

is a news writer focused on creative industries, computing, and internet culture. Jess started her career at TechRadar, covering news and hardware reviews.

The New York Times is testing a new AI feature for its Cooking app that helps users to modify recipes, and it has sparked some drama among users. Last Friday, NYT Cooking senior editor Genevieve Ko announced the feature , which can be used to recommend substitutions for ingredients and cooking equipment, scale recipes to any number of servings, and “generally make our recipes work for what a cook needs at that moment.”

One of the examples given in the article shows a user asking to use baby spinach instead of kale, with the Cooking app feature advising that because baby spinach wilts faster, it should be added during a later step of the recipe. Ko says it can also change the recipes around different pans and tools. Customized recipes are private and can’t be published or shared through the app.…