More than 70 thousand followers on Instagram, official website and beautiful shared photos. Too bad they are all fake. But most followers don't realize that (and complain: “impossible to book”)
A beautiful site, a beautiful Instagram profile, aesthetically perfect images. Maybe more. In fact Ethos is not a restaurant that posts pictures like the one you see above. But it is completely created by artificial intelligence. It's good @ethos_atx account, In fact, you can notice some specific details: for example, photos of chefs, the typical “patina” of the site to create photos taken with AI, as well as holding mega sausages or giant shrimps in their hands. Not to mention of the siteReal restaurants have all the classic pages we'd find – from dishes to articles – and it's a shame that the reservations page has these words: “Bookings start on the first Monday of the month at 4:30 am”. There are no phone numbers or emails, but only one document to fill out to request a table. Also, one last piece of fancy information, the General Manager: An elusive “Giuseppe Fusilli”.
Guests include Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk
In short, the more or less attentive eye immediately perceives the presence of something strange. Instead, three of the more than 70,000 people who follow Ethos on Instagram are convinced the images are real. And indeed They comment and “like” croissants with hippos and dinosaurs or portraits of Jeff Bezos. (Amazon founder and CEO of Blue Origin, ed.) Restaurant guest. “One of our chefs is a close friend of Jeff's,” reads the caption accompanying the post. The photo is actually very restored and another detail should not be underestimated, Actual pesos are not mentioned in the post. In an old post, Elon Musk appears with the intention of pouring a beer: “A toast to innovation, inspiration and unforgettable moments!”, we read in the text of the post.
For fun or are you making money?
This fake restaurant has been on Instagram for over a year and continues with attention-grabbing pictures. Passionate about cooking, but also about social trends. For example, the hippo brioche is inspired by Moo Teng, a miniature version of the pygmy hippopotamus that went viral in Thailand and now around the world (we talked about it here ). But why create a fake restaurant, website and social account? Many artificial intelligence experts have asked themselves how Justin Moore started posting pictures of Ethos on X To prove its falsity. “Maybe it's just to make fun of us,” writes one user. “And then they sell followers to other profiles?” asks another. Moore admits to reading the account for an hour, but “Without understanding how they monetize this program.”
There's also a sale (it works).
Another way to make money is to sell something through your profile, which becomes a showcase that attracts potential buyers. In fact, in recent posts from Ethos, there is a picture of a shirt. Also, when you look in the “Merch” section of the site and profile, you're actually coming to the one – real page – where they are. Prints, hats and t-shirts you can buy. We checked and indeed you will get to the payment page. For everything else, As the site Gizmodo writes, Contacting the restaurant is practically impossible.
