Velvet Taco launches Chat GPTaco, its first taco created by AI

As part of its Weekly Taco Feature (WTF), Velvet Taco’s restaurants in Dallas-Fort Worth will offer the Chat GPTaco, its first AI-generated taco that adds novel elements to a traditional dish.

Using the latest Chat GPT 4 generator, chef Venecia Willis created what she calls “the ultimate taco,” designed with ingredients Velvet Taco uses in its restaurants.

The Chat GPTaco features flank steak, blackened shrimp, red chile aioli, chimichurri, crispy potatoes, grilled onion, queso fresco, jalapeño and cilantro on a corn tortilla.

This new taco is $6.25 and will be available July 12-25 at nearly all Velvet Taco locations, except for food halls and college locations in Norman, College Station and Lubbock.

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“Using the software from Chat GPT for a recipe piqued my interest, and I was pleasantly surprised with the combinations it created. I believe chefs can embrace the technology to enhance our menu ideation process,” said Willis, Velvet Taco’s director of culinary, in a press release.

Willis believes that while AI can transform the food industry, it will not replace chefs.

“AI doesn’t have the ability to taste food,” Willis told The News. “We felt comfortable using AI to build out a Taco that was based on ingredients we created recipes for i.e. grilled flank steak. Some of the combinations were very out there, but this could help a chef who may be in a creative slump.”

Velvet Taco will evaluate how this taco performs to decide if it will incorporate it definitively into its menu, Willis said, or if it will do other experiments with AI.

Velvet Taco’s Chat GPTaco will be featured on billboards throughout Dallas and on-air on Dallas radio stations.

“The ChatGPTaco represents the marriage of food and tech and creativity in a way I’ve not seen before in the restaurant space. We’re really excited,” said Velvet Taco CEO Clay Dover.

For other upcoming Weekly Taco Feature specials, Velvet Taco will have an Aji Pollo taco, featuring crisp tenders, yucca fries, aji amarillo pepper sauce, salsa criolla and mayo crema on a flour tortilla from July 19 to July 25; and a Mango Jerki Churri taco, with mango coconut fried chicken, jerki-churri sauce, Napa slaw, pickled mangos and micro greens on a corn tortilla, available from July 26 to August 1.

Velvet Taco was founded in 2011 and is a Dallas-based restaurant brand with more than 40 locations in Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Illinois, Florida and Oklahoma.

You can visit its website at velvettaco.com.