Don't Believe The 'Elon Musk' Restaurant Bread Theory
You may have seen a funny video floating around on TikTok, in which Elon Musk appears to explain his theory about free bread at restaurants to Joe Rogan. According to this video, restaurants give customers free bread because it mostly contains sugar, which gets digested in a matter of minutes; all of that sugar gives people a rush of energy before it crashes back down, making them hungry and more likely to order dessert afterward to replace their sugar high.
One of the things that happen in our bodies when we eat carbs is that those carbs are converted into sugar, but the problem with this Musk theory is that it's entirely made up. The content creator uses artificial intelligence to mimic both Musk's and Rogan's voices and then syncs that up over a real video of them talking about something completely different on Rogan's podcast. The TikTok video quality is actually pretty good, but the uncanny valley hasn't yet closed entirely — you can still see odd little out-of-sync glitches in their faces that give away the game.
@the.haunted.hub Did you know this? 🤯 #usa🇺🇸 #joerogan #theory #mystery #discovery #restaurantlife This video is fictional and made for entertainment purposes only. Do not take anything seriously.
The video's description clearly states that it's for entertainment only and generated by A.I., but that hasn't stopped people from treating the video as if it's real, and the comments section on the video proves it. One commenter shares, "That's bs because bread always fills me up and I can't eat my food," while another echoes, "Every time I eat chips or bread I get full!!!"
Why do restaurants actually offer free bread?
Although it enjoyed an initial surge of interest, the adoption of A.I. at places like McDonald's has since been walked back. Depending on your point of view, that may or may not be a good thing. Regardless of how you see it, the slower pace of A.I.-adoption does give us more time to come up with creative ways to assimilate this new technology in a manner that benefits both society and the economy. Still, videos like this one aren't it.
The funny thing about the viral A.I. TikTok video is that there are lots of restaurants that serve free bread (we even have a ranking of chain restaurant free bread options), and there are plenty of real theories about why they do it. In reality, the rationale for free bread in restaurants probably differs from establishment to establishment. Some restaurants may use it as a way to pacify impatient customers, while other restaurants use it as a way to keep an influx of orders from overwhelming the kitchen.
If you watched this video and thought it was real, it's good to remember you should keep a critical mind about these sorts of things. Technology is making it difficult to differentiate what's real and fake, but videos like this help keep things light even as they give us a glimpse of what's to come. Whatever happens, we hope the bread stays free!