A Buffalo coffee shop owner faced a fierce social media backlash after using ChatGPT to design a promotional poster for her seasonal menu, prompting accusations of "AI slop" and a wave of lost customers. Megi Endeladze, who runs Penny's Coffee Shop with her husband while also working as a chiropractor and caring for a three-month-old baby, turned to AI after the staff member who usually created the shop's hand-drawn chalkboard menus left Buffalo, and time pressures from her new baby made the usual do-it-yourself approach impractical.

The professionally printed poster cost around $150, plus another $200 for its display holder, but backlash was swift once she shared it on Instagram, with the coffee shop losing roughly 100 followers and receiving hostile messages, including one account threatening to expose the poster to Buffalo's artist community unless it was removed. Endeladze found herself fielding criticism at 4am while caring for her baby, and ultimately issued a public apology, announcing that Penny's would no longer use AI-generated artwork for its promotional materials.