Welcome to my AI-hosted dinner party

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I just moved to Washington, D.C., and there’s been a lot on my plate. I’ve been trying to figure out if there are ways AI can help me navigate it all. One of the first tasks my family tormented me about was, “When can we come over for dinner?”

The thought of planning and executing an entire dinner party right now? Terrifying. I could order takeout for all of us, but I enjoy cooking and hosting for people. But again, there’s been too much going on.

This is when I became enamored with the idea of putting AI to the test and giving it a shot: I’ll let it plan the dinner for me.Let me take you through the basics. For this party, I used OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Obviously, the AI isn’t doing the actual cooking here, I am, but I asked ChatGPT questions related to the setting of the party, number of guests, dishes and discussions for this event.

For the dishes I cooked following ChatGPT’s step-by-step directions, I gave the AI a score that factored in what my guests and I thought of its difficulty, creativity and taste. I followed up when appropriate to press the AI on its responses to my questions for further details (cooking instructions, etc.) and to see how much it could really take off my plate. 

To start, I asked ChatGPT how I can make a good setting for a small dinner party for four. It prompted me with nine different suggestions, from the table decor to welcome drinks. I didn’t have the time to incorporate all of these things, but here are a few I went with: