TRADITION, TECHNIQUE AND BLACK BOXES: A SOCIOTECHNICAL AND ETHICAL ANALYSIS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE CRAFT BEER INDUSTRY

Abstract

This article aims to investigate the paradigm shift in craft beer production driven by the incorporation of Industry 4.0 technologies, specifically Artificial Intelligence and automation. The study analyzes the implications of this change for the ontology of the "craft" product and for labor relations in the sector. The methodology employed consisted of an integrative literature review and documentary analysis, using the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) and Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to confront the technical classifications of the BJCP 2021 with real production problems. The results indicate that the introduction of opaque algorithms (black boxes) shifts agency from the brewmaster to computational systems, favoring cultural homogenization and ethical disengagement. The study concludes by defending an ethics of technique that revalues human practical knowledge and proposes a hybrid intelligence model to mitigate the precariousness of specialized labor.