Beer Brewed Using A.I?

[CallumLovekin]

An interview with IntelligentX Founder Rob talks about his thoughts and struggles with a startup company that brews beer using A.I. Do you think this is something that can last?

 

[Dutto]

Well, that's another 6 minutes and 12 seconds of my life that I won't get back!

Brewing by the use of "Artificial Intelligence"? Nah! Nowhere near!

I reckon that the outfit will struggle along for a few years and then go belly up ...

... hopefully without a huge deficit in it's Pension Plan!

 

[ACBEV]

Its not the first time I've heard of this rubbish idea. I'm not going to bother looking at it. Its based on feedback, trouble is one person might think the beer is great, next minute the recipe changes because someone thinks its rank. You'd never know what to expect because of constant changes! Its one of those, just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

 

[AdeDunn]

Its not the first time I've heard of this rubbish idea. I'm not going to bother looking at it. Its based on feedback, trouble is one person might think the beer is great, next minute the recipe changes because someone thinks its rank. You'd never know what to expect because of constant changes! Its one of those, just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

This, so this!

Too often folks are so caught up asking "Can we?" when they should be asking "Should we?". Heck, sometimes you have to wonder if the Luddites were right... The more tasks been performed by machines, the less jobs for actual people, this is now pretty much a proven fact.

 

[Dutto]

The latest scam is the "Get an electricity and gas meter for free! Just ask your energy provider and he will fit one."

When you actually look at this:

1. It ain't "free"! WE are paying for it with our taxes because the government are providing them to the Power Companies "free gratis" and even pay the companies for fitting them.
2. It's supposed to save people money on the basis that "If you know how much you are using you will use less." That doesn't compute Mr. Spock! If you do actually use less then the Power Companies will put up their prices to maintain their profit margin.
3. "There is no need for the Power Company to visit the premises to get a meter reading." True, but for every "X" number of houses fitted with these devices a Meter Reader loses his job.

The Luddites were a bit premature in voicing their concerns but they just about hit the nail on the head when you look at the results!

 

[AdeDunn]

The latest scam is the "Get an electricity and gas meter for free! Just ask your energy provider and he will fit one."

When you actually look at this:

1. It ain't "free"! WE are paying for it with our taxes because the government are providing them to the Power Companies "free gratis" and even pay the companies for fitting them.
2. It's supposed to save people money on the basis that "If you know how much you are using you will use less." That doesn't compute Mr. Spock! If you do actually use less then the Power Companies will put up their prices to maintain their profit margin.
3. "There is no need for the Power Company to visit the premises to get a meter reading." True, but for every "X" number of houses fitted with these devices a Meter Reader loses his job.

The Luddites were a bit premature in voicing their concerns but they just about hit the nail on the head when you look at the results!

The best use for smart meters is for people on pre-pay, as we are. It used to be an absolute PITA trying to get to the nearest shop that did top ups (the actual nearest one used to unplug his machine and pretend it was broken as he didn't like doing it), and was VERY expensive. We switched to Ovo BOOST, with smart meters, and I now top up using my phone, as a bonus we're spending about £30 a week less than were were before.

For people on a monthly bill though, I fail to see the use. You can easily purchase an energy usage monitor anyway.

 

[Dutto]

......... we're spending about £30 a week less than were were before.

....

Obviously, I don't know your personal circumstances but apparently Pre-Paid Meters are the most expensive way to purchase electricity.

For us, the TOTAL combined gas and electricity bill is covered by a £10.50 per week direct debit. (*) If anyone is cold, we recommend that they go and put some warm clothes on; and anyone who insists on showering every day is rapidly shown where the door is located.


Note:

It's actually a £42 per month DD.

 

[AdeDunn]

Yeah they are. We're private tenants though, and it not permitted in our tenancy agreement to switch from pre-pay to monthly billing. Their worrying been the landlord becoming liable for any unpaid bills should a tenant pull a moonlight. lol

 

[jceg316]

This, so this!

Too often folks are so caught up asking "Can we?" when they should be asking "Should we?". Heck, sometimes you have to wonder if the Luddites were right... The more tasks been performed by machines, the less jobs for actual people, this is now pretty much a proven fact.

There's a demand for data scientists, software engineers etc but not so much of a supply. Microsoft predict there will be a 40 million worker shortfall to keep up with the demand for AI. If we look through history, this rhetoric of "machines will replace humans" has been going on since the industrial revolution. Some jobs may be made redundant, or almost redundant, but opportunities will open up elsewhere.

The wider consequences of beer brewed by AI, like all AI projects, is to bring AI one step closer to artificial general intelligence - robots as smart as a human being.

 

[Clint]

I know some pretty stupid people. ...genuinely thick!
We got one of those meters that tell you how much gas and electricity you're using. Don't use it...

 

[Cwrw666]

All I know about smart meters is that when we had ours fitted our quarterly bill fell from just over £300 to less than £200. One of the selling points to persuade you to switch to one was `only pay for the electricity you actually use'. Come again? So the old style whirly wheel meters just make s**t up did they? Apparently so. Ours used to still go round when the electricity was switched off at the fuse box.

 

[Clint]

"Continually changes based on customer feedback...."
I thought consistency was a brewing benchmark?
Some mass produced stuff is consistently bland and tasteless. ..that's why it appeals to loads of people!
The feasibility of doing what he's saying seems mind boggling...changing the product...based on what?
I do not like Boddingtons. ...I wonder if they will add loads of America hops,change the malt bill and yeast to make it into something I do like..

 

[-Bezza-]

Yeah they are. We're private tenants though, and it not permitted in our tenancy agreement to switch from pre-pay to monthly billing. Their worrying been the landlord becoming liable for any unpaid bills should a tenant pull a moonlight. lol

If you're paying the electricity company directly, you can change provider or nature of supply. Landlord can't do anything to stop you, irrespective of what they say in the tenancy agreement. :thumb:

In other news, AI beer is a bad idea. Surely it would just become Carling over time?

 

[jceg316]

"Continually changes based on customer feedback...."
I thought consistency was a brewing benchmark?
Some mass produced stuff is consistently bland and tasteless. ..that's why it appeals to loads of people!
The feasibility of doing what he's saying seems mind boggling...changing the product...based on what?
I do not like Boddingtons. ...I wonder if they will add loads of America hops,change the malt bill and yeast to make it into something I do like..

I think he's referring to how the AI functions. Machine learning algorithms work by taking loads of training data and creating a model based on those training inputs, then over time more data is collected and added to that training data and the model is updated. So in this case, the training data is people's opinions of the beer.

The issue, as you mention, is when asking a lot of people their opinions, is you're left with some bland middle of the road beer. The way round this is to make different models for different styles, but you're still left with a middle of the road IPA, a middle of the road stout etc. The better way to do this is to take all competition winning beers and use those as training points, and come up with a recipe based on that model.

 

[Dutto]

........... Machine learning algorithms work by taking loads of training data and creating a model based on those training inputs, then over time more data is collected and added to that training data and the model is updated. So in this case, the training data is people's opinions of the beer.

,,,,,,,,,.

One thing I have learned is to NEVER tweak something on the basis that someone doesn't like it.

That is REAL Intelligence.All you do is wait a few weeks and then serve up the same brew to the same mate with the words "I tweaked it a bit so I hope you like this brew better than the last one." and wait for "Now that is a lot better!":thumb:It happens every time!

 

[Dutto]

Yeah they are. We're private tenants though, and it not permitted in our tenancy agreement to switch from pre-pay to monthly billing. Their worrying been the landlord becoming liable for any unpaid bills should a tenant pull a moonlight. lol

I agree with Bezza above if you are not paying your landlord for the electricity and have a contract directly with the power company.

It is no more different than if you took out a loan for a new car and then did a moonlight flit. YOU would be responsible for the payments on the loan NOT your landlord.

I honestly think that your landlord may be breaking the law by putting such onerous terms on your tenancy agreement.

The other side of the argument is if you are paying your landlord and he is the one profiting from your heating and lighting payments. If this is the case then yet again there are legal restrictions on what a landlord can and cannot charge.

I appreciate that it can be a scary situation to be in when you are a tenant; but paying huge amounts of money out for things like electricity and gas takes you further away from owning your own home!

At the very least I think you should look into the matter ...:thumb:... and maybe invest in some wooly jumpers from somewhere!

 

[jceg316]

One thing I have learned is to NEVER tweak something on the basis that someone doesn't like it.

That is REAL Intelligence.All you do is wait a few weeks and then serve up the same brew to the same mate with the words "I tweaked it a bit so I hope you like this brew better than the last one." and wait for "Now that is a lot better!":thumb:It happens every time!

That's definitely the way to do it! I completely agree as well, better to do something a few people will love than something many people will think is ok, and it's impossible to please everyone. People don't know what they want most the time.

 

[Dutto]

.... We switched to Ovo BOOST, with smart meters, and I now top up using my phone, as a bonus we're spending about £30 a week less than were were before. ......

On the basis that "It never rains but it pours!" please check out the following ...

https://www.aol.co.uk/news/2018/02/02/ovo-energy-to-be-probed-by-ofgem/

Hope that something good comes from this!