'I thought AI appliances were a gimmick - testing this new air fryer from Daewoo changed my mind'

Every time I think I’ve seen it all when it comes to air fryer innovation, something else hits the market that makes me sit up and pay attention. But I must admit, I wasn't expecting it to be an AI air fryer. And I was intrigued to find out more about the Daewoo Actuate AI Smart Air Fryer.

On the face of it, it’s a fairly standard single drawer air fryer. However, it includes an internal camera that can recognise 12 foods, then automatically suggest the ideal cook time and temperature. This new technology has the potential to catapult the Daewoo Actuate AI Smart Air Fryer onto our list of the best air fryers.

Call me jaded, but I’m always sceptical that things like this are going to be a gimmick, and not actually all that practical or useful in the real world. That said, you don’t know until you try it out, so I put this air fryer and its innovative AI technology to the test to see how clever it is and whether it’s a worthwhile buy.

Daewoo Actuate AI Smart Air Fryer product specs

• Capacity: 8 litre
• Presets: 12 AI preset programs for: chicken goujons, chicken thigh, burger, chips, wedges, sausages, potatoes, steak, beef joint, chickpeas, fish fingers, vegetable
• Weight: 5.4kg
• Size: (H)30.5 x (W) 32.2 x (D)33.7cm

Unboxing and first impressions of the Daewoo Actuate AI Smart Air Fryer

The initial unboxing was a little disappointing thanks to the dreaded polystyrene inserts that aren’t very recyclable. But once I’d got past this and removed the air fryer from the packaging, I was surprised to find that the handle is not attached to the drawer.

I don’t think I’ve come across an air fryer that requires assembly, which is why it took me by surprise. But, don’t panic, it’s not a job that requires any tools. In fact, the handle simply slots and clicks into place in about three seconds and then it’s ready to go.

Despite its spacious capacity, the air fryer doesn’t feel particularly large or imposing on my worktop. Though the drawer itself is a tad weighty. Like all air fryers there’s a perforated tray that goes in the base. But unlike many others, the front of the drawer has a handy viewing window, so you can watch your food while it cooks.

The LCD touchscreen colour display is very intuitive to use. There's a button for the internal light as well as a play/ pause button. If you want to choose your own time and temperature, you select the DIY button and then use the + and - buttons to adjust the settings.

Or, you can hit the AI/ Auto button and the air fryer will detect the food inside and adjust the settings for you. The caveat with the AI function is that it can only detect 12 foods, so its usefulness is somewhat limited. However, I intend to test how smart it is and whether it can be tricked, so read on for that.

At first glance the AI function seems pretty similar to having presets for different foods. But it does claim to adjust the settings based on the weight of the food. Although I don’t think there are scales built in, so I’m assuming it can somehow detect the volume of food via the camera.

If you’re new to air frying and want some guidance, the AI presets are potentially a useful starting point. And for further help, there’s a table of time and temperature settings for lots of other foods included in the manual.

Cooking with the Daewoo AI air fryer

My first use of this air fryer, and indeed my first test of the AI function, was cooking homemade chips. I cut up 500g of chips and soaked for 30 minutes before drying, spritzing with oil and then adding to the air fryer.

All I had to do was place the chips in the drawer and close it, then it automatically began detecting what was inside. Now, at this point I should say that I always leave the skin on my home made chips. So when the AI detected wedges rather than chips, I thought okay, fair play.

I didn’t correct it, who am I to argue with AI? So I pressed play and it immediately started cooking my skin on chips/ wedges. The timer started counting down from 23 minutes 33 seconds - a weirdly specific time.

When 7 minutes 48 seconds were remaining it asked me to shake the chips. After this I kept an eye on them and I could see through the window that they were looking a bit more golden than I’d like. In normal circumstances I would have stopped it a couple of minutes before the end, but I wanted it to cook for the full time so I could assess the AI function.

In the end the chips were cooked well, and despite being a little darker than necessary, they were crisp and tasty, and it was a great result.

Another food on the AI preset list is chickpeas. So after rinsing a tin of chickpeas and coating in oil and spices, I added them to the drawer. The AI function recognised them immediately and cooked them for 24 minutes 31 seconds - another weirdly specific time.

It asked me to shake them when 8 minutes remained. Annoyingly, quite a few fell through the holes in the base tray. But in the end it didn’t matter, they all cooked the same, and had a brilliantly crunchy texture.

Next I tried another food that’s on the AI list; fish fingers. But, in an effort to test it a little, I chose super chunky fish fingers that are fatter and longer than normal. And interestingly when I added three of them, it thought they were chicken goujons, but when I put six in, it recognised them as fish fingers.

One good feature is that if the AI function gets it wrong, you can cycle through the list and select the correct food. So when it thought my three fish fingers were chicken goujons, I simply adjusted it and selected fish fingers.

The preset cook time was 14 minutes, but I ended up removing the fish fingers after 10 minutes. By this point the fish was moist and tasty and the crumb had a good crunch.

A similar thing happened when I popped in four jacket potatoes. The AI function thought they were chicken thighs. So instead, I switched it to the potato preset. This cooked my jacket potatoes for 27 minutes 47 seconds, which turned out to be a good amount of time for a crisp skin.

It’s worth pointing out though that some of the AI preset functions start on one temperature and then switch to a different temperature part way through cooking. So my jacket potatoes started on 200C but at some point it turned itself down to 180C.

I had great success baking a batch of granola. I simply adjusted the time and temperature using the DIY function and it baked in just 15 minutes. Better yet, I baked a batch of oat cookies which were a great success.

I followed a recipe I found online for air fryer oat cookies and had to bake them in batches of five. Each batch took just nine minutes. This is a great way to bake cookies if, like me, you have no will power. You can freeze the dough and then just bake up four or five at a time, so that you don’t have a whole stack sitting in a tupperware calling your name.

I chopped a selection of vegetables including peppers, onion and mushroom. The AI function immediately recognised them as vegetables and cooked them at 180C for 25 minutes. It prompted me a couple of times to give the vegetables a shake. And at the end, they were beautifully cooked, with a nice roasted appearance.

Other things I cooked in this air fryer included bacon and toasted sandwiches. Four slices of bacon cooked in just over eight minutes.

And two chunky toasties took 10 minutes. Both of these had to be cooked using the DIY settings but they cooked perfectly nonetheless.

Cleaning

Maybe it’s because of the window in the front of the drawer, but sadly neither the drawer nor the perforated tray inside it, can go in the dishwasher. Most of the time this was fine and a quick wash with soapy water was enough to remove any residues.

But after particularly greasy foods like bacon, I do usually like to let the dishwasher take care of things. That said, it is a big drawer and would take up a fair chunk of space in the dishwasher, so it’s probably best cleaned by hand anyway.

Annoyingly, after cleaning, water gets trapped behind the viewing window. Although it does clear quite quickly when the air fryer starts to heat up.

It‘s also worth pointing out that the camera inside needs to be cleaned occasionally for the continued performance of the AI function. Thankfully though, it’s clever enough to tell you when it needs cleaning. So you don’t need to worry about it too much until a little message pops up on the screen.

On the top of the air fryer there's quite a deep groove that’s tricky to get into to clean properly, and I do foresee this becoming a bit of a dirt trap over time. So it might be necessary to use a handheld vacuum to remove dust and debris.

How does it compare to similar air fryers?

The Instant Vortex 4-in-1 is a similarly priced top performing air fryer. It has a smaller 5.7 litre capacity and doesn’t offer an AI function. However, it’s a top performer that’s frequently available on offer. In addition to air fry, it offers a roast, bake, and a reheat function too. And if you loathe washing up by hand, you’ll be pleased to know this one can go in the dishwasher.

If you have a bit more money to spend, the 7.6 litre Ninja Foodi Dual Zone air fryer will give you the flexibility of two cooking zones. It’ll take up more space on your worktop, but with six cooking functions, this top scoring air fryer will earn its keep.

Should you buy the Daewoo Actuate AI Smart Air Fryer?

If the price remains below £100, then I think this air fryer is a great choice. Putting the AI function aside, it’s an affordable large capacity air fryer that performs well, which is reason enough to buy it.

The AI programmes are good if you’re cooking one of the 12 recognised foods. At times the food recognition is a bit hit and miss, and the timings aren’t always spot on. But I think that’s to be expected with such a new innovation. And don’t forget, you can adjust the time, temperature, or food if it gets it wrong.

Overall I was more than happy using it as my main air fryer for a couple of weeks and very happy with everything I cooked in it. But just be aware that the drawer has to be hand washed and it’s a tad noisier than some other air fryers.

More about this review, and the reviewer

After completing a Home Economics degree, Helen went on to work for the Good Housekeeping Institute and has been reviewing home appliances ever since. She lives in a small village in Buckinghamshire in the UK, where she reviews all sorts of home and garden appliances using her wealth of experience.

Helen used the Daewoo Actuate AI Smart Air Fryer in her own home for two weeks before writing this review. She cooked a variety of meals to test out the AI function as well as the general performance of the air fryer.