It’s no secret that we’ve been developing and relying on artificial intelligence (AI) to do a lot of heavy lifting for us. Tokyo startup TDAI Lab decided to implement a program to help people find highly recommended ramen shops.
The kicker? All the ramen shops would be chosen by AI. In November, they went public with their top 5 most delicious ramen shops as chosen by the application they developed.
“WISE REVIEW” vs. Fake Reviews
Company TDAI Lab used its program “WISE REVIEW” to analyze over 4000 reviews of ramen shops. The program used data from Google Business and focused on ramen shops with 100 or more reviews since January 1st, 2019. More importantly, it also filtered out harassing reviews left by “antis” (アンチ; anchi) and other questionable reviewers. The goal of TDAI was to find the most delicious shop, so the AI pulled data from reviews talking about the food.
"Noah [at Unseen Japan] put together an itinerary that didn’t lock us in and we could travel at our own pace. In Tokyo, he guided us personally on a walking tour. Overall, he made our Japan trip an experience not to forget." - Kate and Simon S., Australia
The top 5 ramen shops, according to “WISE REVIEW” are:
5) Ramen Hayashida (らぁ麺はやし田) in Shinjuku
4) Hokkori Chuka Soba (ほっこり中華そば) in Motsuke
3) Ramen Jiro (ラーメン二郎) in Minato City
2) Ramen Jiro (ラーメン二郎) in Hibarigaoka
1) Aoshima Shokudou (青島食堂) in Akihabara
Renowned ramen critic Ide, known as the “Ramen Musician” expressed surprise with the number 1 selection, given its small social media presence and little to no advertising. Ide’s top recommended ramen shop, Ginza Hachigo (銀座 八五), ended up ranking 7th in WISE REVIEW’s ranking.
What will AI be ranking next? TDAI CEO Fukuma says they plan to expand WISE REVIEW to review other restaurants and businesses, such as izakaya.
While this WISE REVIEW is truly amazing, I’d rather get a recommendation from an actual human being with taste buds, not an AI. Unless they develop an AI with taste buds? (Talk about a frightening future…)
