Will AI take your wine job? A guide.

No. But it will change it. And knowing how will it will change it will determine how you succeed or fail. Here we have a comprehensive guide for wine professionals.

Last week we explored how a lot of AI in wine is a Rube Goldberg machine. Most people agreed. Except for one person whose lengthy and reasoned response was “eeishhh”. I note they sell AI systems to wine companies. So whatever the opposite of cui bono is… well, that.

Even so, I did promise to look at which jobs are likely to be under threat from AI, and which aren’t. And as a bonus I’ll dive into how you can make your job under less of a threat than you might imagine. And why you can relax. At least about AI.

Is there a rule?

Kind of. And at least for now. Also it’s not some woolly paean to the “ineffability of the human spirit” either. It’s down to maths. Maths that for now you can take on trust (a human quality). Or if you want to learn more¹, you can look up in Judea Pearl’s excellent book “Causality”. And for the really keen, his co-authored books “The Book of Why”, and the catchily titled “Causal Inference in Statistics: A Primer”.

First, ask yourself this question. Can your job be done better by adding more information? Or is your job done best by identifying one really important bit of information among many, and knowing why?