Watch out, bartenders: your jobs might be next on the AI chopping block — at least if tech startup Breakreal has anything to say about it.
With CES 2026 in full-swing, tech insiders and industry journalists are getting a first-hand look at the madcap gadgets that research and development teams are forcing into the world. One of those devices is the Breakreal R1, a cocktail dispenser that its creators say is imbued with the power of a large language model.
A first-hand look at the device from Gizmodo‘s James Pero reveals what we can probably all intuit: the device is no match for a human bartender.
For starters, the liquid possibilities are pretty limited. Though the Breakreal website brags that R1’s “LLM-powered intelligence… distills your cravings into bespoke generative recipes” via “unlimited AI generated recipes,” the device can only hold eight cocktail ingredients at a time.
Consider a scenario where you load up ingredients to pump out a Manhattan — rye whiskey, sweet vermouth, and bitters — as well as a Vesper, which calls for gin, vodka, and Lillet Blanc. You only have two extra chambers left for auxiliary ingredients, and those first six don’t exactly blend well with each other.
The R1 is also “a bit slow,” Pero reports, taking 20 to 40 seconds to spit out a cocktail, some of which was leaking “out of the arm of the machine and not the nozzle.”
On top of all that, it’s incredibly expensive. According to Breakreal’s website, the R1 will retail for a mind-blowing $1,299 when it launches on Kickstarter at some point in the future. (At the moment, prospective buyers can currently get an early-access coupon to shave $300 off that price, bringing it down to $999.)
Compare this to the non-AI powered Bartesian cocktail machine, a similarly frivolous though much cheaper gadget currently going for just $349, and it’s difficult to imagine a world where R1 lasts very long.
Still, for $999, R1 buyers will get a cocktail maker with “LLM-powered interactive conversation” and “mood-sensing flavor adaptation” — which sound like word soup at best, and a sycophantic alcoholism machine at worst.
Luckily for those who do crave a connection with the entity making their cocktail, you can always trek over to a magical place: your local bar.
More on AI devices: Dell Admits That Customers Are Disgusted by PCs Stuffed With AI Features
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