Snack brand Lunchables pits AI against Kid Imagination in new contest

The battle of human vs artificial intelligence has a new frontier: kids and their snacks. Promoting its Dunkables line, Lunchables provided kids and a generative AI tool with the same prompts: 'Imagine a mozza stick as something fantastical' or 'Imagine a pretzel as something fantastical.' While AI stuck to slick but unexciting images of weirdly shaped pretzels and mozzarella sticks, the under-10s drew outlandish characters, from a ninja with a pretzel sword fighting a peanut butter dragon, to a red-sauce octopus with a mozzarella narwhal.

Building on the concept, Lunchables is recruiting its first Dunkables Head of Imagination. Kids aged 5–13 are invited to submit artwork reimagining a mozzarella stick or pretzel twist as 'something fantastical.' The winner scores an all-expenses paid trip to Lunchables HQ in Chicago, where they'll join imagination sessions, help craft social media content and participate in taste tests. They'll also get a year's supply of Dunkables and USD 1,500 in spending money. To share AI and KI creations with art-loving audiences, Lunchables will showcase them in pop-up exhibits outside Austin and LA museums later this year.