What comes to mind when you think of AI: ChatGPT or Skynet? A cat that makes the impossible possible? As the family gathers around the dinner table this Easter to enjoy a cold beer or three, I will have to bring up the fact that AI could be used to make beer taste better.

Even if it is sacrilege to have a bunch of computer servers tinkering with one of my favorite things, the resulting "improved" beer was favorably received.

According to a study published in Nature (via The Guardian), Belgian researchers led by Professor Kevin Verstrepen of KU Leuven used a machine learning model to predict the taste of the beer after changing its composition. Parameters included not only the basics, such as alcohol content, sugar, yeast, and hop content, but also looked at smaller compounds and how they interact with each other.

The model was trained using 180,000 online beer reviews and feedback from a tasting panel of 16 participants. The panel tasted 250 beers over a three-year period for 50 attributes including bitterness, sweetness, alcohol content, and malt flavor.

A model was then sought to suggest changes to the composition of the beers in order to improve them. The researchers made the changes suggested by the model to the commercial beers before allowing the tasting panel to taste them. The resulting beer was rated quite highly by the panel.

Clearly, beer is not simply a vat of ingredients. The brewer's skill and methodology are always key to making good beer. But if an AI can suggest ways to make beer taste better, or, just as importantly, turn shitty beer into good beer, I volunteer to be the guinea pig at the next test session. As long as that beer is free.

On a more serious note, the team managed to create a non-alcoholic beer that is indistinguishable from regular beer after making the suggested changes from the model. Certainly not harmful.

Finally, I don't know if my professor would have approved if I had said to him, "I would like to write a paper on beer. But I wish I had thought so.