I have to talk about this because it’s been living rent-free in my head for weeks. You know the one. The Samsung ad where some guy, with the culinary instincts of a raccoon, dumps “way too much sugar” into his gochujang pasta sauce.
Instead of, you know, doing what any human with a single brain cell would do (taste it, try to fix it, or toss it), he whips out his phone. He asks his AI assistant, Google Gemini, for help. And the AI, in a moment of sheer digital madness, tells him to turn his savory, garlicky, spicy pasta sauce… into cookies.
He then says, “Sweet!”, and I don’t mean the taste. He seems genuinely thrilled by this bizarre pivot. He adds some butter, mixes it up, and magically produces a cookie from this unholy concoction. My eye starts twitching just thinking about it.
It turns out I’m not alone. The entire internet has formed a beautiful, unified front against this ad. It’s a masterclass in what not to do, both in the kitchen and with AI. And frankly, it’s an insult to both dinner and dessert.
Let’s break down this absolute train wreck, because understanding the failure here is the key to unlocking how to actually use these tools properly.
分析 The Anatomy of a Terrible Ad
This ad isn’t just slightly off; it’s a catastrophic failure on every single level. People are mad for so many different, valid reasons.
- 😡 The Dinner Problem is Never Solved. The most glaring issue! The guy’s original problem was, “What am I going to eat for dinner?” The AI’s solution is, “Here’s a single, probably disgusting cookie.” So… is he just having plain spaghetti for dinner now? Did he order a pizza? The ad presents a solution that completely ignores the user’s primary goal.
- 👨🍳 It’s a Culinary Nightmare. Anyone who has ever cooked knows that most pasta sauces start with a base of onions and garlic. Gochujang itself is a fermented chili paste: it’s funky, spicy, and savory. Now, imagine those flavors… baked into a sweet cookie. It’s a flavor profile that would make a goat vomit. It’s not “fusion cooking”; it’s a culinary war crime.
- 🪄 The Magic Pantry. He’s making pasta sauce. Why are there eggs, a cube of butter, flour, and vanilla extract conveniently sitting on his counter? Did he plan to fail this badly? It makes zero sense. The ad cheats to make its terrible solution seem even remotely plausible, and it just makes it feel more fake and infuriating.
- ⚖️ Baking is a Science. My baker friends are losing their minds over this one. Baking requires precision. You can’t just eyeball it. The prompt “I added way too much sugar” is useless data. How much is “way too much”? A tablespoon? A cup? The entire bag? Without knowing the ratios, you can’t create a viable recipe for anything, let alone something as delicate as a cookie.
- 💡 The Obvious Fixes Are Ignored. This is the part that drives me up the wall. There are at least five simple ways to fix a sauce that’s too sweet, and the AI suggests none of them. This ad isn’t just showing a bad use of AI; it’s actively promoting a lack of basic problem-solving skills.
The Real Problem: Bad Prompts & Lazy AI
Okay, rant over. The ad is terrible. We get it. But here’s the bigger lesson: the ad perfectly illustrates the biggest mistake people make with AI. It’s the old programming principle:
Garbage In, Garbage Out.
The user gave the AI a vague, low-context prompt: “I added way too much sugar to my gochujang pasta sauce.”
He didn’t state his goal (to save dinner). He didn’t provide constraints (I only have pantry staples, I don’t want to make dessert). He didn’t give it any useful data (I added about an extra half-cup of sugar).
In response, the AI did what AI sometimes does: it hallucinated a “creative” but utterly useless solution. A better AI might have asked clarifying questions, but this one just went for the weirdest possible answer. It’s a failure of both the user and the tool.
This isn’t a knock on AI. It’s a knock on using it like a magic 8-ball. You are the captain, the AI is your co-pilot. You need to give it a clear destination and the right map.
✍️ How to *Actually* Solve This Problem with AI
Let’s imagine the guy wasn’t an idiot. How could he have used AI to actually save his dinner? It all comes down to crafting a better prompt.
The Bad Prompt (from the ad):
“I added way too much sugar to my gochujang pasta sauce. What should I do?”
The Game-Changer Prompt:
“I’m making a gochujang pasta sauce for dinner tonight and I accidentally made it way too sweet. I probably added an extra 1/2 cup of sugar to a 4-serving batch. My goal is to salvage the sauce and make it edible for pasta. I do NOT want to turn it into something else like a dessert. I have access to common kitchen staples like vinegars, citrus (lemons, limes), soy sauce, other spices, and vegetables. What are some culinary techniques or ingredients I can add to balance the sweetness and save my dinner?”
See the difference? It’s night and day. The second prompt gives the AI everything it needs:
- Context: “making a gochujang pasta sauce”
- Goal: “salvage the sauce… for dinner tonight”
- Negative Constraint: “do NOT want to turn it into something else”
- Data: “extra 1/2 cup of sugar to a 4-serving batch”
- Available Tools: “common kitchen staples like vinegars, citrus…”
With a prompt like that, a good AI model would give you real, actionable advice. It would think like a chef, not a fever dream.
💡 The Solutions a Good AI Would Offer:
An AI given that killer prompt would suggest balancing the 5 tastes (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami). Here’s what it would probably say:
- ✅ Add Acid: This is the #1 fix for too much sweetness. The AI would suggest adding a splash of rice vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or a good squeeze of lemon or lime juice. The sourness cuts right through the sugar.
- ✅ Add Salt & Umami: Salt is a flavor enhancer, but it also balances sweet. The AI would recommend adding soy sauce, miso paste, or even a dash of fish sauce to introduce saltiness and a deep, savory (umami) flavor.
- ✅ Add Fat or Dairy: Fat can mellow out intense flavors. A drizzle of heavy cream or a scoop of full-fat coconut milk would add richness and dial back the sweetness, creating a creamy gochujang sauce.
- ✅ Add Spice & Bitterness: Fight fire with fire. Adding more gochujang, some gochugaru (Korean chili flakes), or even a pinch of unsweetened cocoa powder (for bitterness) can help create a more complex flavor profile that isn’t just one-note sweet.
- ✅ Dilute It: The simplest solution of all. Double the other ingredients: add another can of crushed tomatoes, more broth, more onions and garlic. You’ll end up with more sauce, but the sugar concentration will be halved. Now you have leftovers for tomorrow!
🚀 Supercharge Your Kitchen with AI (The Right Way)
Don’t let Samsung’s terrible ad sour you on using AI in the kitchen. When you learn to prompt it correctly, it’s an unbelievable tool. Here are some of my favorite ways to use it:
- The “Clean Out the Fridge” Challenge. Give the AI a list of random ingredients you have left.
Prompt: “I have 2 chicken thighs, half a jar of artichoke hearts, some feta cheese, a lemon, and quinoa. Give me 3 different dinner recipes, from easy to ambitious, that I can make with these ingredients.”
- Meal Planning & Shopping Lists. Stop wasting time and money. Get specific.
Prompt: “Create a 7-day, high-protein dinner plan for two adults. We don’t eat pork. Please include a detailed shopping list organized by grocery store section (Produce, Meat, Dairy, Pantry).”
- Recipe Conversion. This is a game-changer for anyone with dietary restrictions.
Prompt: “Take this classic brownie recipe [paste recipe here] and convert it to be both gluten-free and vegan. Explain each substitution (e.g., why you’re using a flax egg) and if I need to adjust the baking time or temperature.”
- Learning Culinary Science. Use it as your personal cooking instructor.
Prompt: “Explain the Maillard reaction to me like I’m 10 years old. Then, give me 5 pro tips for getting a perfect, crispy sear on a steak every time.”
That stupid Samsung ad got one thing right: AI can be a creative partner. But it showed us the worst possible version of that partnership. The truth is, AI is a powerful co-pilot, but you have to be the one flying the plane.
Forget the gochujang cookies. Start crafting better prompts and unlock an assistant that can actually help you save dinner—and maybe even make you a better cook.
The widely criticized advertisement is part of a larger global campaign by Samsung and advertising agency BBH Singapore for the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The campaign’s primary goal is to showcase the device’s AI capabilities, which are powered by Google’s Gemini.
Critics, including writer Emma Beddington, have highlighted the absurdity of the AI’s suggestion, noting that a human would simply try to fix the sauce rather than pivot to making cookies. The ad’s depiction of adding butter but omitting essential baking ingredients like flour and eggs has added to the ridicule.
The public reaction has raised questions about whether the ad effectively promotes Samsung’s hardware or functions more as a showcase for Google’s AI. This has led to a broader discussion about the realism of AI portrayals in advertising and the public’s skepticism toward impractical AI solutions.