diff --git a/cloud/safety_checker.py b/cloud/safety_checker.py
index d9aa3f8..7840383 100644
--- a/cloud/safety_checker.py
+++ b/cloud/safety_checker.py
@@ -35,8 +35,14 @@ def check_dish_safety(image_path: str) -> dict:
         images=[image_path],
         output_format=DISH_SAFETY_SCHEMA  # Passed as Ollama's `format` parameter
     )
+    print(f"[Debug] Raw response from AI generator: {response_raw}")
 
+    # 1. If response_raw is already a dict, return it directly
     if isinstance(response_raw, dict):
         return response_raw
 
-    return json.loads(response_raw)
\ No newline at end of file
+    # 2. If it's a string or bytes, parse it
+    if isinstance(response_raw, (str, bytes, bytearray)):
+        return json.loads(response_raw)
+
+    raise ValueError(f"Unexpected response type from AI generator: {type(response_raw)}")
\ No newline at end of file