AI social – When Adam Jones used an AI tool to generate social media posts for Myer’s Bagels in Burlington, Vermont, customers noticed the ads didn’t match the shop. One star reviews followed, including imagery that used real photos and real customer quotes in ways Jones
When Adam Jones posted what he thought would be a fresh. graduation-themed social media push for Myer’s Bagels. he didn’t expect the backlash to hit as hard as it did.. He says passionate customers responded publicly with one-star reviews and sharp criticism—not about the food. but about the authenticity of what was being posted.
Jones, 53, runs the shop in Burlington, Vermont, where the menu is rooted in Montreal-style bagels made with wood fire cooking.. The business is small—about 22 people—so the same workforce handles orders. bakes. and “does everything.” In his view. social media is where visibility is won or lost. but he also says he’s learned the hard way that automation can strain trust if it’s not handled carefully.
The dispute centers on what the AI tool did with the shop’s real assets.. Jones had been pointed to a company that helps small businesses with AI across multiple functions. including human resources and social media.. He already pays a bookkeeper and accountant, but wanted “a third opinion,” he said—this time for posts.
The tool offered a calendar to build an entire month of Instagram releases. Jones used it for college-town timing, including posts for graduation season, asking it for ideas to draw people in. The program could import photos Jones and his team took and then “tweak” them.
At first, Jones said, he didn’t see an obvious problem. “Part of the picture was real,” he said of one set of images, adding that he looked at the result and told himself, “Not too bad.” But he also noticed the AI introduced bagels and backgrounds that didn’t match Myer’s.
That mismatch became clear in customer-facing images that used real Myer’s materials in ways customers recognized as off-brand.. One image. Jones said. featured the shop’s retail bags for a grocery store—using photos he said were actually from Myer’s.. But he said the AI also went into Google. Yelp. or older Instagram comments and “pulled out a review from Sam. ” then turned the quote into what looked like a fake handwritten note.
Was it untruthful? Jones said yes. Was it built from real pieces of the business? He said also yes. “Sam is a real person,” he said. “Sam made that quote, and those were our bags.”
In another case. Jones said the AI took a picture he’d used before of a baker rolling out dough and then used it in a new composition: a wooden cutting board. a fire in the background. and a kettle boiling bagels.. Jones said that isn’t how the store is laid out, and that customers know it.. Still, he said the image used “real bagels, real hands, real dough.”
Jones believes the controversy escalated quickly because social media doesn’t stay contained. “Between those two photos, I bet there were 25-30 comments for each one,” he said, describing replies and further reactions.
He said he saw a group of customers who were especially intent on using review platforms to make their point.. Some left one-star reviews “claiming nothing about the food. just about this situation.” In Jones’s telling. there was no direct call to the business; the complaint unfolded through online responses rather than conversations.
Not all feedback was hostile. Jones said some customers went in to defend the shop, saying, “Look, they’re a small business. They just wanted to be more creative.” He said he appreciates those comments, but he also emphasized that the negative responses were more numerous.
For Jones, the lesson wasn’t just that he got criticism—it was that the medium demands readiness. “The pen is mightier than the sword,” he said, describing how businesses on social platforms have to respond quickly or risk being overtaken by the narrative.
After the blowback, he moved to remove the posts and apologize.. “I went in. pulled them. and apologized. ” he said. adding that he wasn’t “anti-AI.” He called the effort a test and the first step forward. but one he was willing to walk back.. “I wasn’t married to the idea,” Jones said.. “It was a test.”
He said he erased the posts and told customers, “We will do better. We’ve heard.”
Jones insists he will keep using AI in other parts of the business. arguing that he needs help to keep up with daily pace.. Without additional assistance. he says he wouldn’t be able to maintain “the rhythm and the pace of growth.” He also frames AI as a tool that can reduce costs. saying it can help keep prices down and “combats inflation.”
Still, he draws a hard line for social media. “AI is not going away,” he said, calling it “a tool to do things better and easier as a business owner.” It’s “not good for everything,” he added. For social media, he said, there is a role—but he needs to “tread much more carefully.”
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