Meet the tech-savvy savior of the pub scene!
A passionate beer enthusiast, frustrated by rising costs, harnessed the power of artificial intelligence to develop a dynamic “living index” that monitors Guinness prices in local bars. This innovative database is now lauded for helping to reduce these prices throughout Ireland.
Matt Cortland, a 37-year-old startup founder, took inspiration from a UK reality TV show to design an AI bot. After being charged €7.80, equivalent to approximately $8.93, for a pint of Guinness in a Dublin establishment back in early March, he felt compelled to investigate further.
His initial shock morphed into an insatiable curiosity. When he turned to the Central Statistics Office of Ireland, he discovered that they had ceased tracking Guinness prices in 2011, according to reports.
Guinness, the quintessential Irish beverage, boasts its headquarters in Dublin and remains a beloved staple across the country.
Realizing the enormity of creating a comprehensive price tracking system on his own, Cortland enlisted the help of a custom-created AI partner, a move the optimistic entrepreneur deemed necessary for the task at hand.
“I was like, ‘Well, can I just call every pub in Ireland and conversationally ask them with AI?’ I pulled the thread, and I just kept pulling the thread, and here we are,” Cortland told Fortune.
Cortland built Rachel, inspired by UK’s “The Traitors” winner Rachel Duffy, and dispatched the AI to call 3,000 pubs across the island nation. In each call, Rachel inquired about the price of a pint of Guinness.
Of the 3,000 calls, 2,052 were answered, and more than 1,000 told Rachel the price of their Guinness, as reported by TechEU.
Many of the well-meaning bartenders had no idea they were talking to a computer.
“The cost of a pint of Guinness? Twenty-five pounds. But if you’re coming in for a wee drink, I’ll give it to you for a fiver,” one bartender in Northern Ireland told Rachel, as reported by Fortune.
“Listen, they’re normally €6.20, but if you can’t afford one, we’ll buy you one. We’ll look after you,” another in Kilkenny, Ireland, assured.
Rachel logged its findings, which Cortland used to create the “Guinndex,” a “living, breathing” consumer price index for a pint of Guinness across Ireland.
Cortland told the outlet that pricey pints creeping over €7 have plummeted to €6 or lower since he published the tracker.
In one instance, he said a pub owner reportedly slashed the cost of his Guinness by €0.40 and then updated the entry on the Guinndex himself.
Cortland hopes to replicate the project with other popular products. He spitballed a few ideas, ranging from the cost of a slice of pizza in New York City to prescription drugs in the US.
He noted that his gripe isn’t about the costs themselves, but the lack of transparency.
“If you’re charging €11 for a pint of Guinness, that’s fair enough. But people should know that information,” he told the outlet.
