Granny Bytes

Granny Bytes is a project that explores inter-generational connections and how it can manifest within our interactions with technology. It investigates the capabilities of AI and its potential relationship with both the elderly and youth population. AI is characterized by rapid advancement with each passing year, and can be considered one of the most groundbreaking technologies our modern world has welcomed. On the other hand, with technology being such a new concept, there are many instances where the older generation are left behind in its wake, struggling to learn how to interact with the tools that power this current society.

And so, we wanted to create an interactive tool that reimagines the modernity of AI as a member of the pre-technology generation to foster a sense of familiarity and comfort for this population when interacting with an unfamiliar tool.

In addition, we were interested in seeing how this reimagination of “Grandma” via a technological reimagination could shift the kind of relationship that can be had between the younger and older generation.

We believe Granny Bytes is the method for bridging the gap between the two, and also creating a sort of permanence for the fleeting nature defining this relationship.

Within the relationship of grandmothers and the youth, food is a big factor of unification, and so we decided to use cooking as the focus for mirroring this relationship– seeing how AI and cooking can be a facet of our humanity.

Granny Bytes helps you answer any questions you have as you cook recipes passed down through different generations.As of now, users are presented with 4 pre-written cultural recipes that have been passed down by each team members’ grandmothers.

When clicking on a recipe, users are greeted with an interactive recipe guide with a section hosting the ingredients, the chat room where the grandmother lists the steps of the recipe one at a time and have users type in any questions they have about the step to which the grandmother responds before proceeding to the next step.

At the end the user can also send an image of their cooking for feedback to the AI powered grandmother to know how well they cooked it and things they could improve on. Chat with Granny Bytes on your next cooking adventure.

The app simulates a sense of warmth, care and fostering in the way the grandmother responds to you. For the moments when you’re frantically searching how to make a recipe your grandmother used to make for you when you were little. For when you don’t understand the quantities required to make a dish because the recipe doesn’t mention it clearly. Most of all for when you’re missing your grandmother or craving a connection to your cultural roots.