AI is cooking up something delicious.
WOOHOO, a restaurant opening in central Dubai later in September 2025, has been built on just one principle — “dining in the future,” as the operation’s leaders put it.
Chef Aiman, a large language model (LLM) specifically trained for culinary environments, will take point on developing a menu, deciding ambience and coordinating service at WOOHOO.
Aiman — a clever, if not on-the-nose portmanteau of ‘AI’ and ‘man’ — has been trained with food science principles, culinary technique, and thousands of pre-existing recipes and food traditions from around the world, according to Ahmet Oytun Cakir, one of WOOHOO’s founders.
However, AI-anxious diners need not steer clear — Chef Aiman doesn’t actually do any of the cooking. Instead, it develops new, unique recipes by analyzing flavor profile, texture and seasonality of a wide variety of ingredients.
These recipes are then tested by a team of flesh-and-blood human chefs, headed by Reif Othman, and tweaked as needed.
“Their responses to my suggestions help refine my understanding of what works beyond pure data,” Aiman said in an interview with Reuters.
The restaurant is slated to serve Asian-inspired cuisine with international influences, and is built around the concept of offering diners completely unique food and beverages — that’s right, the computerized chef will be dreaming up the drink menu as well.
“Human cooking will not be replaced, but we believe (Aiman) will elevate the ideas, creativity,” clarified Oytun Cakir, who is also the chief executive of hospitality company Gastronaut, to Reuters.
Aiman has also been trained with sustainability in mind. According to its creators, the AI chef will synthesize recipes that reuse, reduce, and recycle commonly rejected ingredients, like fat, trimmings, or other components that may require a bit of culinary creativity.
With this in mind, the robotic restaurateur’s makers said that in the future, they hope the technology will be licensed to other kitchens across the world in an effort to improve some of the efficiency and sustainability issues ingrained into the industry.
While robots in restaurants are nothing new — the past few years have seen a noticeable rise in automaton attendants as the culinary and hospitality industries grapple with rising operating costs — Aiman certainly marks the first, and likely not the last, computerized cook actually in the kitchen.
