Now, where did I put that 2019 pinot noir? A new AI-powered wine refrigerator can help.
Samsung on Monday unveiled the Infinite AI Wine Fridge, a device the company says uses artificial intelligence to provide you with all the important information you want to know about your belongings. But wine connoisseurs in the US will have to wait — it’s only available in South Korea for now.
The product uses an “AI Wine Manager” that can “manage wine that needs to be carefully stored for a long time easily and efficiently based on ‘AI Vision’, a camera placed on the top of the product.”
There’s an AI camera — synced to the AI ​​Wine Manager app — on top of the fridge. The camera can detect which bottles you add, which you take out and where the bottles are located in the refrigerator. AI can also analyze the label of each bottle to identify the name, varietal and vintage of the wine. If you move the bottle to a different place in the fridge, the AI ​​Wine Manager will notice.
Whatever wine you choose for dinner, the app can recommend food recipes that might go well with it, Samsung said.
The refrigerator is large enough to store 101 bottles and has a place to store snacks such as cheese, fruit, nuts and cold meats. This “multi-pantry” has five heat settings.
The Samsung Infinite AI Wine Refrigerator can hold up to 101 bottles.
Samsung said the refrigerator has three zones — top, middle and bottom — and that temperatures can be set from 37°F to 67°F, depending on what’s needed for the wines and food inside.
The wine refrigerator is a new addition to the smart kitchen appliance market, which is expected to grow by 18% globally over the next few years, according to market analysis firm Grand View Research.
CNET took a closer look at kitchen appliances and tools that were useful, like smart computers and coffee makers, and those that weren’t, including meat thermometers with trolleys and overly smart counter ovens. For the purposes of this definition, smart appliances are loosely defined as those that are Wi-Fi-enabled or AI-enabled, or both.
Doug Croll, a member wine educator at Chateau Montelena winery in Calistoga, California, said he didn’t find the Infinite AI Wine Refrigerator’s features “compelling,” since it can only hold 101 bottles.
Read more: Hey Samsung, Please Stop Forcing AI On Me
Croll said refrigerator AI will be most interesting when “software starts to provide shopping assistance, like an in-house sommelier,” he said, speaking personally and not officially at a winery. He said it would be useful if AI could recommend wines, know that you like a certain brand, or AI could let you know when the wines you like are on sale and buy them for you.
Austin Evans, a technology analyst whose YouTube channel has 5.75 million subscribers, said that when it comes to home technology, it seems that the word “smart” is being replaced by “AI” without much reason.
“I’m almost the opposite of a lot of things,” Evans told CNET. “It feels like companies are pushing AI everywhere for buzzwords rather than actual performance. My washing machine is ‘AI-powered’ and, as far as I know, all that means is that it has Wi-Fi, which is what we called ‘smart’ a few years ago.”
Moon Jong-seung, DA vice president of Samsung Electronics, said in a press release that the company will “continue to introduce high-end electronic devices that improve users’ lifestyles based on advanced AI technology.”
The Infinite AI Wine Fridge costs $4,300. The company did not give a timeline for when it will be available outside of South Korea. A representative for Samsung did not immediately respond to CNET’s request for comment.
