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Carlsberg Turns To AI To Help Develop Beers (fastcompany.com)

From a report: One of the reasons it takes so long to develop new beers is because brewers have to rely on actual humans -- and techniques like chromatography and spectrometry -- to test liquids and detect flavors and aromas. Carlsberg thinks it's found a better way. With help from researchers at Aarhus University, the Danish beer-maker has developed sensors that are able to detect differences between beer flavors, the Financial Times reports. Now, the company is teaming up with Microsoft to help interpret that data via artificial intelligence and streamline the lengthy beer-making process.

56 comments

  1. Artifial Intelligence? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    has developed sensors that are able to detect differences between beer flavors,

    That's an Artificial Redneck.

    1. Re:Artifial Intelligence? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If it can detect the difference between beer flavors, the Artificial Redneck is a serious improvement over the Actual Redneck, who drink Coors Light and Budweiser of their own free will.

  2. Microsoft Beer 10 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You never know how it is going to taste after the next update.

    1. Re:Microsoft Beer 10 by olsmeister · · Score: 1

      Microsoft Beer 10. When people say it's full of bugs, it's real bugs!

      Microsoft Beer 10. After heavy and sustained use, a reboot into the porcelain throne may be required.

    2. Re:Microsoft Beer 10 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeast Trap, and where you source the grain and hops. Then it comes down to freshness and serving temp. Never expect to see batches with above average stickers.
      Brand name and marketing is more important than the product. Computers are rubbish - buy I would say sniffer dogs may do a better job than humans.
      Batch variation will KILL a brand fast.

    3. Re:Microsoft Beer 10 by nospam007 · · Score: 1

      "Microsoft Beer 10. After heavy and sustained use, a reboot into the porcelain throne may be required."

      Throne? The Germans have specialist throw-up porcelain (Kotzbecken) for that.

      https://upload.wikimedia.org/w...

      https://fraeuleinsilvia.files....

    4. Re:Microsoft Beer 10 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Carlsberg beer, brewed in azure." This ad would work wonders in the Mass Effect game universe.
       

  3. This is not A.I. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    There is nothing intelligent about a database of data unless it starts designing fjords in its search for the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything.
    This is not A.I. even if they use a neural network to sort the beer flavours. I really hope the media will find a new acronym or term to abuse in 2018, the "A.I." abuse in 2017 is really getting up my nose, and should die a very quick death.

    1. Re: This is not A.I. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      AI == absolute inebriation

    2. Re:This is not A.I. by TheRaven64 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Abuse of buzzwords or not, I welcome the news that Carlsberg is going to start producing beer.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    3. Re:This is not A.I. by religionofpeas · · Score: 1

      I really hope the media will find a new acronym or term to abuse in 2018, the "A.I." abuse in 2017 is really getting up my nose, and should die a very quick death.

      Alternatively, you could just shut up about it.

    4. Re:This is not A.I. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Anything involving a computer is artificial intelligence. Just get over it.

      In the past, this headline would have been: Carlsberg Turns To Computers To Help Develop Beers . See how well that works out?

      Signed an old AI engineer with 20 years experience with word perfect and ms word.

    5. Re:This is not A.I. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But if they feed the horse piss they currently sell into the AI won't the AI just get confused and believe that's beer and wind up making more horse piss?

      Or are they going to buy real beer to teach their AI?

  4. Sensors by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

    Sensors are AI now. Will the hype cycle ever end for AI?

    1. Re:Sensors by vivian · · Score: 1

      If Beer is proof that god loves us, and wants us to be happy, does that mean beer inventing AI also loves us and wants us to be happy? Can I finally convert my robopocalypse-ready bunker into a fully stacked beer cellar?

    2. Re:Sensors by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      Exactly. 3D printing, 3DTV, VR. All failed tech the venture capitalists tries to hype to make work. Now it is "AI". Wake me up when we can create normal software reliably.

    3. Re:Sensors by arth1 · · Score: 1

      If Beer is proof that god loves us

      Typically less than 20 proof.
      And it's not mutual.

  5. Hello, Microsoft Hangover Support by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Have you tried emptying your stomach contents and reloading it with fresh beer?

  6. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  7. Clippy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    It looks like you're trying to hrew an IPA. Would you like help brewing an IPA?

    1. Re:Clippy by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      It looks like you're trying to hrew an IPA. Would you like help brewing an IPA?

      LOL!!!

      This is EXACTLY the Comment I came here to Post! (Including the choice of beer/ale type!)

    2. Re:Clippy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      On the plus side, it'll be free, as in beer.

    3. Re:Clippy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When you try to drink it, a wad of paper will fall into your mouth which has Clippy saying "Can I help your find a dish that will go well with this beer?"

  8. Software by sjbe · · Score: 1

    Sensors are AI now. Will the hype cycle ever end for AI?

    No, the software to interpret the data from the sensors is what they are calling AI. Bit of a stretch of the term I'll agree but not quite as silly as you are implying. To be honest if the system isn't able to autonomously interpret the data in novel ways without being more than a glorified lookup table I'm not really sure the there is any AI involved. I don't really see how this is more than an expert system in any circumstance.

    1. Re:Software by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      So software that used to interpret sensor data is AI? What did we use with sensors with digital systems before? Fairy dust?

    2. Re:Software by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm willing to call pretty much anything trying to simulate intelligent behavior for AI.
      I don't think something has to be biological to classify as real intelligence so I'd rather reserve the artificial part for programs that just tries to give the impression of intelligence without actually being it.

    3. Re:Software by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Anything involving computer or automation is AI. My light switch is AI; I flick it up and the light over my toilet turns on. Prove me wrong.

    4. Re: Software by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Artificial means something that was made by humans. You are nost likely not artificial so if you use the switch you are not an AI. If you create a robot that uses the swith, that could be called artificial. If it turns the switch so that no intelligence can be found from its actions then it is not intelligent. But if it can e.g. detect you and turn the lights on for you like a cheap human slave then it shows intelligence and can be called AI.

  9. I can see the advertising now by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

    "Hal Extra Stout, made with pure Europan spring water - one toot and you won't be opening those pod bay doors!"

  10. Wrong bet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Blockchain beer would be the right bet. Shares would soar.

  11. Surprising flavors by sinij · · Score: 1

    Surprisingly, rotting roadkill with infusion of burnt rubber flavored stout is rather pleasant brew.

  12. TBD by sjbe · · Score: 1

    So software that used to interpret sensor data is AI?

    In principle it could be. You can do clever things with the data (AI for lack of a better term) or simply provide read-outs to be interpreted by people or something not quite AI but still automated. Whether this particular case is AI will depend on what the software actually does. I'm a little dubious it will be more exotic than an expert system but maybe they are working on something more clever than that. Not enough detail to really know. Like you I strongly suspect it is mostly marketing fluff since AI is the new hotness term for any software these days.

    What did we use with sensors with digital systems before?

    Give it a few moments thought and I'm sure you'll figure it out.

  13. Blockchain crypto Carlsberg beer by freedom4us · · Score: 0

    Give us the blockchain brewed beer pleasssee!

  14. Looks like you're pissed out of your skull again by najajomo · · Score: 2, Funny

    Some time ago, Userfriendly did a cartoon featuring a Clippy like character called Binky who turned into a mean drunk after being let go by Ubersoft. Looks like another case of life imitating art again.

  15. I hear MS' Tay is looking for work by Registered+Coward+v2 · · Score: 1

    They could let the bot develop receipts based on user interactions - what could go wrong?

    --
    I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
  16. ummmm by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1
    Why does this sound like "Walt Disney Beer"?

    Or dare I say - a return to the days of BuMilCoors light lager swill.

    One of the reasons I like Craft beer is that there is a human in the loop.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    1. Re:ummmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One of the reasons I like Craft beer is that there is a human in the loop.

      Damn I knew it... craft beer is MADE OF PEOPLE

    2. Re:ummmm by arth1 · · Score: 1

      Damn I knew it... craft beer is MADE OF PEOPLE

      He said "human in the loop", not "human in the hoop".

      As for how much I appreciate a human in the loop, I have to agree with the late George Carlin. The typical human seems pretty stupid, and a full half of everyone is more stupid than that.

      Most "craft beers" these days is swill, overhopped to mask bad production and give it longer shelf life. And the less enlightened fad-following half of the population lap it up, sometimes literally.

    3. Re:ummmm by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      One of the reasons I like Craft beer is that there is a human in the loop. Damn I knew it... craft beer is MADE OF PEOPLE

      I do know my mother always called Budweiser and Coors "PeeWaa" so yeah possibley some human input there.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    4. Re: ummmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This.

      'Cause music got so much better when we started making sure they're approved by an algorithm that checks if it's 99% similar to an existing hit song, right?

      Time to switch to whiskey, I guess.

  17. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 0

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  18. That's a bit of a stretch... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But ok, if you insist, you can call carlsberg "beer"...

  19. perhaps now the secret of Burton snatch by epine · · Score: 1

    What is the secret of Burton snatch? — 2016

    "Part of the enjoyment is is smelling the beer without drinking it," he says.

  20. I for one; by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Welcome our new AI Brewmaster overlord......

  21. Get some of those cancer-sniffing dogs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    to smell the beer.

  22. machine learning and faith by goombah99 · · Score: 1

    The difference between machine learning and AI is that people doing machine learning know they can't trust the machine and so only do what they understand and for AI it's exactly the opposite. They trust and untrustable system to do something without understanding how. That may sound like a dis. But on the other hand I trust my brain and I have evidence it's not trustworthy and I have no idea how it works. But the reason it's a dis is that what I described is more faith based than science based. On the other hand it gets the job done. You can raise an army of crusaders faster with religion than with reason.

    --
    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
    1. Re:machine learning and faith by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The difference between machine learning and AI

      You seem to have a definition of AI that is limited to something. Do you mean programs simulating neural networks?
      At what point does something stop being an artificial intelligence and start being just intelligence?

    2. Re:machine learning and faith by goombah99 · · Score: 1

      no

      --
      Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
    3. Re:machine learning and faith by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 1
      At what point does something stop being an artificial intelligence and start being just intelligence?

      When it performs something that most people agree is intelligent.

      (Doing one very stupid thing, or even a lot of stupid things at once, does not count)

      --
      Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
  23. Sure by MerlinTheWizard · · Score: 1

    Relying on actual humans for the design and production of goods is bad. Let's just use humans as living wallets. https://realagenda.wordpress.c...

  24. Is "AI" replacing the word "software"? by greencfg · · Score: 1

    Seems that way, the term being abused to the extreme. Soon: "Look, mum, I am writing my school essay using this AI called Microsot Word!".

    1. Re: Is "AI" replacing the word "software"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What do you call an application that is trained with some data to give fuzzy answers based on input in a way that mimics human behaviour in similar situation?

    2. Re: Is "AI" replacing the word "software"? by arth1 · · Score: 2

      What do you call an application that is trained with some data to give fuzzy answers based on input in a way that mimics human behaviour in similar situation?

      Buggy.

      Hope that helps, have a nice day

  25. Seriously, do we really need more kinds of beer? by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

    Have you been to somewhere like BevMo or Whole Foods lately? Seen how many different kinds of beer there are? You could drink a new one every day and it would probably take you a year to get through them all. Isn't there a diminishing returns point beyond which more variety really makes no difference?

  26. Artificial Intelligence? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ..so you mean Machine Learning?

  27. disappointed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As of this writing there are only eleven distinct posts explaining why this is not AI. I had 17 in the pool. Sheesh, come on you slackers.