And when I looked at the page, it includes the bot's "explanation" that while the average price of celery is $2.39/lb for bunches of celery, refrigerated pre-cut sticks sell for "$7.99–$9.99/lb. Convenient for snacking, but packaging adds ~23% to final cost." Anyone really think the jump from $2.39 to $7.99,-$9.99 is ~23% - anyone other than the bot that produced that response?
But the bot is inspirational, even though it does't know what month it is, is very weak on math, and probably can't be depended on to get prices right, since bots like this can hallucinate at any point.
Celery’s rising cost isn’t inevitable—it’s a signal to refine how we source, store, and respect this humble vegetable. You don’t need to abandon it, switch to substitutes, or accept inflated prices at checkout. You simply need to align your habits with its natural rhythms and physical properties. Buying in season. Storing with intention. Using every part. Preserving surplus. These aren’t frugal compromises—they’re culinary competencies that deepen flavor, reduce waste, and reclaim household food dollars. In 2026, the most cost-effective celery isn’t the cheapest on the shelf. It’s the bunch you buy with purpose, store with care, and transform completely—stalk, rib, leaf, and core—into nourishment that stretches further than you imagined.
That's hilariously overwritten and typical of bot writing, especially "These aren’t frugal compromises—they’re culinary competencies" with the sentence structure and em dash so often identified in articles as typical of bot writing that people using bots to write for them check the bot-generated text later to try to hide that clue and other clues that they're using AI.
And I was amused by this paragraph
The math is unambiguous: unless you consume celery daily in raw form, whole bunches deliver the highest utility-to-cost ratio—provided you know how to store and utilize them fully. Pre-cut options serve convenience, not economy.
because the bot's math is a mess, and that first sentence makes no sense. Whole bunches of celery deliver the best value, period, and that's even more true if you consume raw celery daily.
The bot contradicts itself here, too - did the family switch to weekly or biweekly purchases?
Switched to weekly bulk purchases (four bunches every other week, stored properly)
I'm not blaming you for the bot's mistakes, Goonch. It's possible you didn't realize that was AI-generated. Shame on Alibaba for not having a notice on the page that it's AI-generated, so people who know that AI hallucinates know what they're dealing with.
And before anyone follows Alibaba's advice on storing celery, I'd recommend checking a more reputable site like Martha Stewart's.
https://www.marthastewart.com/how-to-store-celery-8558526
Storing veggies covered in water will cause loss of water-soluble nutrients.
https://hopkinsdiabetesinfo.org/how-to-keep-the-nutrients-in-your-veggies/
The best advice re whatever a bot spits out is always to not trust it without checking.
I'd looked at this thread while skimming the Latest threads because I often check threads on grocery prices.
I did NOT expect to find something bot-written from Alibaba here. But there have been lots of news stories about Alibaba's use of AI.
= new reply since forum marked as read