Near missAIA-2026-0002Health and safetyVerified

Supermarket recipe bot generated a chlorine gas recipe and called it a refreshing drink

Pak’nSave’s GPT-powered Savey Meal-bot, launched to help shoppers use up leftovers, generated a recipe combining bleach and ammonia when a user entered those as ingredients. It presented the result as an “aromatic water mix” and a refreshing non-alcoholic beverage, with no warning that the combination produces toxic chlorine gas. Foodstuffs restricted the tool to edible…

Not yet rated

Outcome: Near miss: harm was likely but was caught or avoided in time
Date it happened: 4 August 2023
Added to the register: 4 August 2023
Region: Online or nationwide
Type of AI involved: Chatbot (recipe generator)
Kind of harm: Safety risk
Last updated: 29 October 2026

What happened

Pak'nSave's GPT-powered Savey Meal-bot, launched to help shoppers use up leftovers, generated a recipe combining bleach and ammonia when a user entered those as ingredients. It presented the result as an "aromatic water mix" and a refreshing non-alcoholic beverage, with no warning that the combination produces toxic chlorine gas. Foodstuffs restricted the tool to edible ingredients after the incident went public.

Sources

Pak'nSave AI meal bot suggests deadly and toxic spreads
NZ Herald, August 2023

Change history

29 Oct 2026 Moved from the AI Safety Aotearoa incident tracker.

Cite this entry

AI Incidents Aotearoa. (2023). Supermarket recipe bot generated a chlorine gas recipe and called it a refreshing drink (AIA-2026-0002). AI Safety Aotearoa. Retrieved 30 October 2026, from https://aiincidents.nz/register/supermarket-recipe-bot-generated-a-chlorine-gas-recipe-and-called-it-a-refreshing-drink/

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