Dubai, UAE – Dubai is set to launch what could be the world’s first AI-designed dining experience this September with the opening of WOOHOO, a futuristic restaurant located near the iconic Burj Khalifa.
Billed as “dining in the future,” WOOHOO will offer meals crafted by human chefs but designed by a proprietary large-language model named Chef Aiman, an artificial intelligence trained on decades of food science data and thousands of global recipes.
Developed by Dubai-based hospitality firm Gastronaut, Chef Aiman short for “AI + man” is engineered to analyze ingredients at the molecular level, blending flavors and textures in inventive, unconventional ways. Though Aiman cannot taste or smell, it proposes combinations based on acidity, umami, mouthfeel, and cultural context. These AI-generated prototypes are then fine-tuned by a team of human chefs led by acclaimed culinary innovator Reif Othman.
“Their responses to my suggestions help refine my understanding of what works beyond pure data,” Chef Aiman explained during an interview conducted through its interactive interface.
According to Ahmet Oytun Cakir, WOOHOO co-founder and CEO of Gastronaut, the goal is not to replace chefs but to enhance their creativity and efficiency. “Human cooking will not be replaced,” he said. “But we believe Aiman will elevate the ideas and inspiration that come into the kitchen.”
Beyond creativity, WOOHOO has a sustainability mission. Aiman is designed to optimize ingredient use, suggesting ways to repurpose kitchen byproducts such as meat trimmings and fat items often discarded in traditional fine dining settings.
In the long term, the team behind WOOHOO sees Aiman’s role expanding beyond Dubai. Cakir said Gastronaut hopes to license the technology to kitchens worldwide, offering a potential leap forward in both innovation and environmental responsibility.
With WOOHOO’s doors set to open in just a few months, the city that builds the future might soon be eating it too.