Can AI Take The Guesswork Out Of Beer Brewing?

Will the wonders of artificial intelligence ever cease?

In the last decade or so, artificial intelligence has been increasing at a dramatic clip, and software developers and programmers have developed AIs that can do everything from beating a world class chess champion to diagnosing medical conditions to moving and stacking heavy objects on a factory floor.

But now someone has taught an AI how to brew beer using an algorithm that is constantly taking in customer feedback and continuously tweaking the recipe – and the end results sound as though they could be deliciously intriguing.

IntelligentX, a London-based firm, is using an algorithm known as Automated Brewing Intelligence (ABI) and a Facebook-based chatbot to solicit feedback from consumers of its beers.

Consumers use the Facebook bot to give feedback on what they liked and didn’t like about the taste of the company’s four current brewery options – Amber AI, Black AI, Golden AI and Pale AI – and the algorithm then takes that feedback, and uses a reinforcement learning process known as “bayesian decision making” to determine what tweaks were and were not pleasing to customers, according to CNET.

All this data is then presented to the master brewer before he begins brewing the next batch.

“We’re using AI to give our brewer superhuman skills, enabling them to test and receive feedback on our beer more quickly than ever before,” Hew Leith, co-founder of IntelligentX, said in a statement.

IntelligentX bills its beer as “the world’s first beer brewed by artificial intelligence,” and is currently offering it in “pirate black” bottles in “extremely limited editions” through its website.

“Because our AI is constantly reacting to user feedback, we can brew beer that matches what you want, more quickly than anyone else can. That means we get more data and you get a better, fresher beer,” IntelligentX said of its brewing process on its website.

Beer brewed by an AI sounds like it could taste really good, or really bad. Either way, here’s to finding out.

Cheers!