When AI is involved in creating books, errors can occur. And if the subject is edible mushrooms, the danger can even be life‑threatening. In Hut ab! – Das Pilz‑Kochbuch from Callwey Verlag, author Martin H. Lorenz gathered recipes from renowned chefs such as Eckart Witzigmann, Franck Giovannini, Johann Lafer, and Vincent Klink. The publisher also provided exclusive photographs by Julia Schmidt, Nikolas Hagele, and Caroline Wimmer. The result is a product that would have been of genuine interest to many hobby cooks, especially in autumn. Nevertheless, the cookbook cannot be purchased for now. Besides the photos and recipes, the book also contains illustrations that have caused problems—because, apparently, artificial intelligence (AI) was at least partly involved in their creation. On the Reddit platform, users expressed confusion over the book’s images, noting that several mushroom species were depicted incorrectly. Laypeople could have confused edible mushrooms with similarly looking poisonous ones based on those illustrations. Mushroom expert speaks out The mushroom specialist involved in the production, Dennis Regul, has now publicly commented on the incident: “It concerns the book ‘Hut ab! Das Pilz‑Kochbuch’. I was involved, reviewed the content and gave feedback on errors. I received no fee, only five copies of the book. During the collaboration I discovered AI‑generated pictures and reported that they were completely unsuitable. Unfortunately, I have since found that they were still used,” he wrote on Instagram and Facebook. “I consider the AI‑generated images dangerous. I want to point this out because beginners could be led to collect the wrong mushrooms.” The publisher disputes this. According to a spokesperson, the graphics are not fully AI‑generated; they were created by in‑house illustrators and then visually harmonised with AI. The errors slipped in during that process—errors that the mushroom expert did not manage to spot in time. Although Regul provided critical feedback on some illustrations, those were corrected before publication. At Callwey, an intensive investigation is now underway to determine how the mistakes arose. The publisher has acted quickly: the book has been withdrawn from the market. Whether it will be reissued with corrected illustrations has not yet been decided; according to the spokesperson, this will not happen before 2026. AI becomes a problem for illustrators Earlier, the professional association of illustrators (Illustratoren‑Organisation, IO) had already criticised the use of AI in the industry. “When asked about the biggest future challenge, ‘Artificial Intelligence’ was by far the top answer. Moreover, reports are increasing about missing commissions, changed requests and price collapses,” the statement reads.

(translated with AI 🤖)

At this point in my life, I don't understand why we need to continuously publish new cookbooks. Unless there are 50 million new types of mushrooms, what's the value?

Not good enough for me knowing there are Thomas Midgley Juniors out there:

On October 30, 1924, Midgley participated in a press conference to demonstrate the apparent safety of TEL, in which he poured TEL over his hands, placed a bottle of the chemical under his nose, and inhaled its vapor for sixty seconds, declaring that he could do this every day without succumbing to any problems. [...] Midgley later took a leave of absence from work after being diagnosed with lead poisoning.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr.

He was the jackass who invented both leaded gasoline and CFCs and inflicted them on the world.

I guess you're forgetting the time Elon Musk smashed his cybertruck window while demonstrating how indestructible it is?

Or the time that guy who was told his submarine design was stupid because fibreglass is strong under tension but still took it down to the bottom of the Atlantic multiple times until it crushed him along with some idiots that must have thought it was fine because it had been down and back before?

Didn't some politicians drink Flint water to try to "prove" it was safe?

Humans kinda are the trippy mushrooms they ate causing them to hallucinate.

Everything is edible once.

Found Erin Paterson.

Generally speaking poisonous things taste bad but not always! Add it to the data

The poisonous death caps and destroying Angels taste good like an edible mushroom yes. Then they liquefy your liver over 2 days.

Yes please. Also what's the emergency phone number that I should dial?

I've occasionally seen some false chanterelles (Hygrophoropsis sp.) do a pretty good chanterelle impression but they're not toxic, just bland and not well-tolerated.

A tea so delicious, it's heartbreaking!

Well, one could argue that it is the other way around. We consider most mushrooms as feasibly edible when it is easy enough to distinguish them from non-edible ones. There are thousands of mushroom species out there that are probably edible but that are just not worth anyone's time. And we also focus more on certain groups of mushrooms that contain a higher percentage of edible ones, like boletes (and also champignons).

All mushrooms are edible. At least once.

There are edible mushrooms which are really hard to ID, but you just don't try to eat those.

Most people don't go after the tasty Sheathed woodtuft (Kuhernomyces mutablis) because the risk of confusing it with the deadly funeral bell (Galerina marginata)

Check out the wikipedia page for destroying angels. Members of this family can look very similar to button mushrooms or puffballs when they're in the early stages of growth.