Can ChatGPT brew a better beer than humans? Pennsylvania brewery tests AI-created beer

By Howard Monroe

Click here for updates on this story

    BRISTOL, Pennsylvania (KYW) — By now you’ve likely heard of artificial intelligence. The computer technology is drastically changing problem-solving and now a brewery in Bucks County is using it to generate beer recipes.

Second Sin Brewing used AI to generate its latest beer release. The one question now is who makes a better beer: a human or a robot?

“This beer is called Jake Against,” Jake Howell said. “This is my recipe. Both beers turned out well. I won’t hide my bias. I think mine is better.”

It’s Jake Against the Machine literally. “Jake Against” is Second Sin Brewing’s newest IPA and was made by Head brewer and Co-owner Howell. But “the machine” was generated by using AI technology.

The idea to use ChatGPT came from Co-owner Mike Beresky.

“I came up with the idea. Can it write a beer recipe? Turns out it can,” Beresky said. “And naturally, I was like well is it as smart as Jake is with brewing? Let’s find out. Let’s put them head to head.”

The owners are lifelong friends and opened the brewery in Bristol in 2019. They’ve used AI in the past but usually for social media. This is the first time they’ve used it for a beer recipe.

“Cause there’s nothing more repetitive than telling people you have a food truck on any given weekend that was the same one the prior weekend, so it’s a way to spice things up,” Beresky said. “You just ask it a question and it will respond. We asked it to write the best hazy IPA recipe in the world and that’s it. “It’s that simple. It gives you the instruction, the whole deal.”

While Jake has no concerns his job is in jeopardy, he does see where AI could help in the future.

“If I’m short on time and I can’t come up with a recipe I know I can rely on ChatGPT to get me in the ballpark,” Howell said. “It’s kind of like if I give you grandma’s favorite cookie recipe and you go and bake it. It’s not going to taste the same as how she does it.”

The industry trade group Brewers of Pennsylvania says this is the first time AI has been used to brew a beer in Pennsylvania.

Jake the brewer won with a score of 60-48 against AI.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.