Summary

As Americans navigated Thanksgiving 2025, artificial intelligence emerged as a helpful, yet cautiously adopted, assistant in the kitchen. While millions of social conversations reveal a willingness to use AI for tasks like generating grocery lists, finding substitutions, and understanding food safety, a significant skepticism remains regarding AI's ability to handle the critical elements of holiday meal preparation. The rise of 'AI slop' highlights concerns about low-quality or nonsensical AI-generated recipes, leading consumers to rely on trusted human sources for the main dishes. Ultimately, AI is seen as a valuable tool for planning and convenience, but not as a replacement for human expertise in crafting the centerpiece of the Thanksgiving table.

How Americans Used AI for Thanksgiving 2025: What Millions of Conversations Reveal

As part of RILA Global Consulting’s ongoing analysis of real time consumer behavior, we examined millions of US social posts about Thanksgiving cooking, meal prep, and holiday shopping. One trend stood out immediately: Americans are comfortable letting AI help with the easy parts of Thanksgiving, but they are not ready to trust it with the star of the table.

Consumers are happy to let AI build the grocery list. They are not ready to let AI ruin the prep of the turkey.

Across the seven day window leading up to the holiday, the most talked about AI tools in the kitchen were ChatGPT, Copilot, and Gemini. Younger consumers were especially active, with Millennials driving 65 percent of all AI and cooking related posts.

AI in the Thanksgiving Kitchen: Help, Not Control

Around one in four Thanksgiving home cooks discussed using AI in some way while preparing their holiday meal. But the data shows a clear limit. People are using AI for ideas, substitutions, quick instructions, and clarifying food safety details. Very few are handing over the entire menu to technology.

Consumers consistently said AI was useful for:

• finding ingredient swaps

• adjusting recipes for dietary needs

• interpreting confusing packaging or cooking instructions

• answering last minute questions no one wants to Google

AI is also becoming a shopping tool. Many consumers said they used AI to compare prices across major retailers and based their grocery store choice on whichever result showed the best value. For Thanksgiving 2025, AI became the digital shortcut for everything from cranberry sauce prices to turkey size recommendations.

The Rise of “AI Slop” and Recipe Skepticism

Alongside the curiosity, there was strong caution. A growing portion of posts used the phrase “AI slop” to describe low quality or nonsensical recipes generated online. That term has now gone mainstream across social feeds in 2025.

Warnings were widespread. Users urged others to check trusted chefs, YouTube creators, or classic cookbooks instead of relying on untested AI recipes.

Some of the most shared content included:

• stories of “Frankenstein dishes” that fell apart

• burnt desserts, undercooked sides, and overly complicated instructions

• mock headlines like “Thanksgiving Dinner Headed for Tragedy as AI Recipes Devour the Internet”

• consumers joking that “AI tried to cook Thanksgiving and it went horribly wrong”

That gap between a perfect looking photo and what actually comes out of the oven was a major consumer pain point. It is the exact space where Thanksgiving can go wrong.

What Consumers Actually Want From AI

The pattern in the data is simple. People want AI for planning, not precision.

Top use cases included:

• shopping list creation

• cooking timelines

• portion calculations

• temperature conversions

• last minute substitutions when stores ran out of key items

These are tasks consumers feel AI can safely support without compromising their holiday meal.

Yet there were bright spots. One of the most interesting insights was the number of consumers using AI specifically to create healthier versions of Thanksgiving staples. Wellness focused home cooks used AI prompts to reduce sugar, cut butter, remove allergens, or add more vegetables to classic dishes.

AI Curiosity Is High, But Trust Is Not

Even though millions of posts mentioned AI and Thanksgiving together, most conversations reflected curiosity, humor, and skepticism rather than full adoption. Thanksgiving became the backdrop for a broader cultural conversation about AI’s role in everyday life.

Across social platforms, consumers repeatedly asked:

• “How do I use AI?”

• “What can AI help me with in the kitchen?”

• “Is this recipe safe?”

AI is still seen as a helpful assistant, not a replacement for human expertise.

The Takeaway for Brands

For retailers, CPG brands, and food companies, the insight is clear. Consumers are integrating AI into their holiday routines, but only for high convenience, low risk tasks. They trust AI to save them time, not to make the decisions that define a tradition as important as Thanksgiving dinner.

The consumer behavior is shifting fast, and as the holiday season continues, brands have an opportunity to meet shoppers where they already are: using AI as their first search tool, price comparison engine, and planning assistant.

If your team wants a deeper look into how your customers are using AI to make decisions this season, RILA Global Consulting can help you decode the signals at scale.