Influencer Revisits Taipei’s NT$100 Meal Challenge and Tests AI Advice

About a decade ago, Taiwanese creator TKstory attempted to eat three meals in Taipei on a daily budget of NT$100, using the low-cost challenge to examine the city’s dining environment. Recreating the experiment now highlights changes in food prices and living costs over the past 10 years. It also shows how inflation directly constrains everyday spending choices when wages fail to keep pace.

The latest test found that the cost of eating out in Taipei has risen about 40% over the past decade, lifting the minimum daily budget for three meals from NT$100 to NT$140. During the experiment, the creator asked OpenAI’s ChatGPT how inflation should be addressed. Its responses included imposing a tax on vacant homes and even reducing demand through a major disaster, prompting debate over whether AI-generated advice is reasonable.