Charlie Osborne |||

Artificial intelligence (AI) is influencing our lives in increasingly new ways. Algorithms influence the cost of your car insurance; chatbots help you write that important email to your boss; political deepfakes cause chaos on social media; even your local stores personalize product recommendations with AI.

At home,however,it's a different story. You may have a voice assistant-enabled speaker and some smart lighting, but AI has taken over little else -- until now.

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Enter Brisk-It , which claims to be "the first AI-powered grill." Thewebsite boasts that with Vera, its generative AI cooking system, users can "Ask anything. Say anything. Cook anything." 

With that much confidence, I had to put it to the test.

Meet the contenders 

While my partner and I are nowhere near pitmaster level (yet), we consider ourselves barbecue enthusiasts and have some degree of experience and talent. Over time, we've upgraded from a basic barrel grill (rigged like something akin to a smoker) to aWeber kettle , Masterbuilt 800 , Traeger Ironwood -- and now aBrisk-It . 

We enjoy using our grills' intelligent features but stick mostly to our preferred recipes and timing. So, is handing over everything from temperature control to resting periods to AI going too far?

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We decided to host a cook-off to find out. I admit that I did not want an AI system to show us up, so to fairly pick a winner, we chose to do a blind taste test judged by a group of very willing and hungry friends.

1. Masterbuilt Gravity Fed Series 800

TheMasterbuilt Gravity Fed Series 800 , a$799 smoker,is aWi-Fi-connected barbecue with a large, vertical charcoal hopper that accepts around 10 lbs of fuel and offers 800 square inches of cooking space, including a top shelf. You can use the display and knobs to control the smoker's temperature or manage your cook with the accompanying Masterbuilt mobile app.

2. Traeger Ironwood

The Traeger Ironwood is a $1,600 wood pellet grill and smoker. It can accommodate up to 396 square inches of cooking space, plus 220 square inches provided by accompanying racks. The wood pellet hopper accepts around 22 lbs of fuel, making it a great option for low-and-slow overnight cooks. This barbecue also has a touchscreen display and a mobile app.

3. Brisk-It

The final contestant is the$600 (on sale at the time of writing, typically$850 retail) Brisk It Origin 580 A.I. Powered and Wi-Fi Grill . While available in larger sizes, this option provides 580 square inches of cooking space and includes a small top rack and a wood pellet hopper with a capacity of 22 lbs. You can control temperature via the display or accompanying app, which hosts Vera, the grill's AI assistant.

The tech within these grills

We have a particular fondness for adding low-and-slow items to our menu, including pulled pork and brisket. This often means cooking overnight -- we like using safe, reliable equipment that we can leave unattended while we sleep (don't try this at home unless you have full faith in your equipment). 

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With mobile alerts and alarms enabled, we have done overnight cooking with each barbecue mentioned above without issue. We've found that some of the real benefits come with the smokers' technological features. 

There are advantages and disadvantages to each smoker in this competition. Let's explore some of their main features. 

1. Masterbuilt Gravity Fed Series 800

The Masterbuilt was my first acquisition, and I was delighted that the accompanying app was something new beyond what I'd practiced with a basic barrel. The mobile app now falls behind its competitors, as it doesn't offer much beyond a temperature manager, basic recipes, and session graphs -- but the latter is comprehensive, and the app can store multiple sessions. 

Pros:

• Solid charcoal option with a reasonable amount of smoke
• Reliable temperature management at a higher range
• The fastest option to ignite
• Large cooking space

Cons:

• Occasional error codes
• Temperature control can be less stable in long sessions
• Cleaning can be awkward

2. Traeger Ironwood

The Traeger mobile app is superior to the Masterbuilt mobile application. I have no complaints about the smoker's build quality beyond some of the soldering, which could be tidier, especially considering the price point. 

Pros:

• Solid wood pellet option with plenty of smoke
• Reliable temperature management up to 400