Instagram is obsessing over this viral restaurant – but it doesn't actually exist

A restaurant that is causing a stir amongst Instagrammers for its delicious and unique-looking food was created by AI and doesn’t exist.

With the help of artificial intelligence, image-generators are able to come up with pictures and videos of bizarre scenarios, based only on a text prompt given by the user.

Sometimes, the images generated look so genuine they are enough to fool even the most savvy social media users and that appears to have happened with an alleged eating establishment in Austin, Texas.

Ethos is a “restaurant” that was created on AI and only exists on social media through images that have been artificially generated, according to a post on X/Twitter.

“This restaurant does not exist. Ethos, which claims to be Austin’s #1 restaurant, has 72k followers on IG. It seems normal until you realize the photos of the food + venue are AI,” X/Twitter user Justine Moore explained.

“The posts get thousands of likes and comments from people who have no idea.

At the time of writing, the Instagram page for Ethos has 74.8k followers. In the bio, it says, “Ethos is the fundamental values and beliefs that define the character and culture of an individual, organization, or community”.

One of its most popular images has almost 995,000 likes and is of a croissant shaped to look like a dinosaur.

The caption tells followers: “Unleash your inner paleontologist and savor our new Dino Croissants. Choose your favorite dinosaur and pair it with a delightful cappuccino. A prehistoric treat for a modern indulgence!”

The page has sparked debate over what the (currently unknown) owners are running it for.

Responding to the X/Twitter post, one person argued: “Here’s a way to make money with AI: 1) Build a social audience with AI. 2) Sell the account to a business. 3) Delete the posting history and rebrand it as the buyer’s brand.”

Another said: “This is a bleak social experiment to see just how much ATX millennial yuppies love stunt food, AI slop, and unfunny online trends (that damn hippo). Results should be plentiful.”

“The fact that ppl can’t tell this is AI is scarier than the technology itself …” someone else commented.

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