AI Mixology: The Limits of Machine-Crafted Cocktails

Eric continues his two part investigation of the rise of Artificial Intelligence in the cocktail and bar world with special guest Rob Nester, creator of the hit podcast, Drinking with Robots. 

Some of the topics covered include:

• Why AI and human bartenders have some of the same tendencies, especially when it comes to picking base spirits for cocktails.
• The role that "cognitive outsourcing" plays in our lives, and how to think about "outsourcing" certain tasks to artificial intelligence.
• The reason why LLMs can often produce cocktails that are about 90% perfect, but often fall short of actual greatness.
• Some thoughts about how the "intersubjectivity" of flavor is actually a human superpower
• A few mind-boggling statistics about the computing power of the human brain when compared to the supercomputers that run ChatGPT
• And much, much more

This episode was made possible with editing and sound design by Samantha Reed, AI and cocktail insights courtesy of Rob Nester, creator of the hit podcast, “Drinking with Robots." This has been a Direct Fire Studios production, copyright 2025!