A Saskatoon brewery held a fun competition last weekend and discovered that recently developed artificial intelligence (AI) could make a big difference in the industry’s marketing strategies.
Nine Mile Legacy Brewing in Saskatoon used artificial intelligence program ChatGPT to generate a new beer recipe for their menu. While it did require some tweaking from assistant brewer Luke Clark to make it drinkable, the algorithm successfully created a new beer for the brewery called ‘ROBOTS’.
Clark said he had to refresh the program with alterations five or six times before ChatGPT created a recipe that was usable. The first brews it created were up to 40 per cent alcohol content.
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“I took the original recipe, took all of the ingredients and adjusted them just a little bit and changed the process to our process and then created a beer from that,” Clark said.
Head brewer and co-founder of the business Garrett Pederson created a ‘HUMANS’ recipe for a brew-off competition against ‘ROBOTS’ for a people’s choice award.
‘ROBOTS’ came out on top.
“We had a taste off in the taproom and had our customers vote which one they like better,” said Pederson.
It was the first time the brewery had used the program as a business tool.
“Lots of people thought, while the *ROBOTS* version was crushable and straightforward, the *HUMANS* version was really nuanced and creative,” stated Nine Mile’s tweet.
Nine Mile tweeted, “#ChatGPT absolutely didn’t replace human function or impact but rather added one more tool to the tool belt. Being human remains integral and this silly beer competition was a great medium to ponder that human/AI relationship.”
A marketing expert told Global News that businesses are starting to rely heavily on ChatGPT.
Ryan Townend, CEO of William Joseph Communications, said it is exciting to see how businesses are using the new technology.
“They are using it for research to cut down their time for sourcing data, whether it is for content creation and ideas to build out strategies going forward, it is very powerful tool,” Townend said.
Pederson summed the event up as a fun learning experience.
“It was a fun experience to work with it and see what it can provide you and learn how to use it as a tool,” Pederson said.
“It just basically streamlines your process. You can ask it a question and get a really quick answer, but can tailor make it to your own experiences and knowledge.”
Nine Mile Legacy confirmed that brew-off number two is being planned but at a date not set in stone just yet.
The two recipes have been packaged together and are being sold at Co-op, Sobeys, Urban Cellars, and at the brewery’s taproom on 20th Street for those in Saskatoon looking to try to two side-by-side.
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