AI Won’t Replace Bartenders But It’s Already Influencing Craft Culture – Forbes
The robots aren’t taken over the bar just yet, but AI is starting to make inroads into drinks … [+]
Generative Artificial Intelligence tools such as ChatGPT do not pose an existential threat for bartenders and brewers the same way they do for writers, musicians and other creatives. That’s because brewing beer or mixing a drink is an inherently tactile and ancient practice steeped in the person-to-person connections that are fundamental to humanity.
So don’t worry about those robot bartenders that have popped up in places like Las Vegas. Those are and will remain a novelty similar to the animatronic puppets of yesteryear. But that doesn’t mean AI won’t change the way people drink, in fact, AI is already influencing how people find cocktail recipes, develop recipes, and even which breweries and bars they visit. albeit on a small scale currently. Here are some examples of how AI is already playing a role in beer and cocktail culture.
If you are a professional or home bartender looking for a recipe for a cocktail, you no longer need to look through your cocktail book or search the internet. Instead, all you need to do is ask ChatGPT or another AI tool such as Bard from Google how to make the cocktail in question. I recently asked ChatGPT how to make a variety of cocktails including a spicy margarita, Last Word, Manhattan, and Naked and Famous. In each case, it provided a recipe instantly that was as good as could be found with a quick Google search. But as with most-AI related technology I had questions. Where was ChatGPT getting the information for these drinks? I worry the bartenders who create new drinks and the journalists and authors who compile them will go uncredited and uncompensated if ChatGPT or other AI becomes the go-to for drinks recipes.
AI chatbots have started to compete with search engines and sites like Yelp by providing travel itineraries for users on demand. One example is the OpenAI-technology powered tool GuideGeek. This free AI travel chatbot works through WhatsApp and can provide on-demand craft beverage itineraries for cities, states and regions — providing suggestions on top drinking spots much the same way a knowledgeable friend might. I asked it to suggest a brewery tour of Connecticut and within a few seconds, it suggested visiting four excellent breweries in the state and provided brief descriptions of attractions at each. For instance, it correctly noted that New England Brewing Co. in Woodbridge, Conn., is known for its “hop-forward beers” and “Sea Hag IPA and G-Bot are highly regarded by craft beer enthusiasts.”
AI tools can help users find breweries
The truly spectacular and terrifying thing about generative AI is not just that it can summarize the internet on demand for you, it can generate new, or at least new-ish content inspired by what it finds on the web. That’s why it can write, make music and create art. But AI’s creative prowess extends to the bar as well. Several AI tools specialize in cocktail recipe development including BarGPT. The tool has features that will allow it to create a drink based on what you have available in your liquor cabinet and upon ChatGPT-style prompts. Though beverage directors should rest easy that it isn’t going to eliminate their jobs anytime soon. From my prompts, BarGPT wasn’t able to generate the type of complex drinks a skilled bartender could. My request for “a modern riff on a spicy margarita that would impress even my most snobby friends” resulted in a cocktail that was basically a Tommy’s Margarita with a cayenne pepper rim instead of a salt one. It wasn’t bad tasting but it wasn’t particularly original. In time the robots may get better at conceiving drinks, until then I’ll stick with good old fashioned human-conceived recipes.
