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Amii and Blindman Brewing collaborate to bring AI to beer
AI-generated label art help celebrate 20 years of AI excellence
The Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) has teamed up with Blindman Brewing on the launch of their May Long Double IPA, developing AI-generated art that will be featured on cans across Alberta and Western Canada this summer. Launching May 5 and just in time for summer, the beer is being released in anticipation of AI Week, the inaugural celebration of 20 years of Alberta’s AI excellence being put on by Amii from May 24 to 27. Learn more about the collaboration at amii.ca/blindman and about AI Week at ai-week.ca
”We really love doing things that haven’t been done before, and AI is no different,” says Kirk Zembal, co-founder of Blindman Brewing. “We’ve been having a lot of fun with Amii, seeing what we can come up with, whether that’s working on how we can reduce the greenhouse gas emissions out of the brewhouse or partnering with art and artists in wildly new ways. And of course, we love an excuse to celebrate, so AI week is a perfect time to launch this hop-filled beauty – and now the artwork on the outside of the can is just as beautiful as what’s on the inside.”
"AI week is a perfect time to launch this hop-filled beauty – and now the artwork on the outside of the can is just as beautiful as what’s on the inside.”
Kirk Zembal, Co-Founder, Blindman Brewing
The label art is inspired by imagery of iconic landscapes and destinations from around Alberta with graphics transformed through an AI technique called neural style transfer. The technique uses the power of deep neural networks – otherwise known as deep learning, a widely-used form of machine learning – in order to mix the content of one image with the style of another. The system used Alberta landmarks, such as the Alberta Legislature building and Lake Louise, for the content images, which were then transformed using Amii brand elements for the style. As a final step, a graphic designer reviewed and finalized the resulting image for use on the label.
“As we were looking to plan our first AI Week in Edmonton, we wanted to do something fun and a little bit different,” says Payam Mousavi, Lead Machine Learning Scientist at Amii. “What better way to have fun, and demonstrate the power of AI, than by working with Blindman to generate these labels for their May Long Double IPA. We had originally connected with their team as they were working to better understand how machine learning could be used to reduce their carbon footprint, and this was an exciting next step in our work together.”
“What better way to have fun, and demonstrate the power of AI, than by working with Blindman to generate these labels for their May Long Double IPA."
Payam Mousavi, Lead Machine Learning Scientist, Amii
Working with Amii through the REMI Program (Reducing Emissions through Machine Intelligence), Blindman has been exploring the use of AI and machine learning to improve their CO2 capture technology. They are seeking to use machine learning to better predict what timing is best to recapture the CO2, when it is most pure for reuse, and how often it can be reused. The use of AI will help them understand how they can recapture CO2 most feasibly, economically and in a repeatable and reliable way. More information about Amii and Blindman’s work together can be found in a case study on the Amii website.
With more than 25,000 units already sold, the May Long Double IPA – along with its AI-generated label art – will be retailed at craft-beer-focused stores across Alberta and will be available at various events throughout AI Week, May 24-27.
AI Week presented by Amii takes place May 24-27, 2022. Learn more at www.ai-week.ca
