AOL reviewed: This AI-powered pellet smoker produces perfectly cooked meat all on its own

Artificial intelligence, commonly referred to as AI, is being incorporated into more household products these days, making them smarter and easier to use than ever. While this technology has been used in items like computers and smartphones for years, AI is now expanding outdoors onto our patios — more specifically into our grills.

The Brisk It Origin 580 Smart Grill is one of the first AI-enabled grills on the market, and this WiFi-connected smoker can cook meat (and other foods) to your exact preferences, without you having to lift a finger. That means no more burnt brisket or overdone steak. It sounds too good to be true, so we tested it to find out if this “smart” grill is worth buying.

The Brisk It Origin 580 is a pellet smoker, designed for cooking at low temperatures for long periods of time. It has a temperature range of 165 to 500°F, and unlike gas or charcoal grills, you can set it to a specific cooking temperature via its digital controls, just like an oven.

This grill has a total cooking capacity of 580 square inches, spread across a 428-square-inch main grilling rack and a 152-square-inch secondary rack. Its hopper, where pellets are stored and dispensed, holds up to 22 pounds at a time, and the grill weighs in at a grand total of 135 pounds thanks to its stainless steel construction, which has a powder-coated finish.

The Origin 580 isn’t yesterday’s smoker, though. It’s WiFi-enabled, letting you set and monitor cooking temperatures remotely via the Brisk It app, which also houses a wide variety of recipes for you to try. To take things a step further, Brisk It claims the Origin 580 is the first AI-powered grill, using generative AI and cooking automation to streamline the grilling experience.

I’m not nearly as handy as I would like to be, so believe me when I say the Origin 580 is pretty easy to build. It arrives in pieces — and, in my case, shipped on a hefty pallet — but comes with all the necessary tools and a detailed instruction manual that walks you through each step. There are several components to account for, from the grill’s four legs to its individual handles and trays, but as long as you’re not in a hurry, it’s a straightforward experience to assemble your new grill.

To access the full capabilities of the Origin 580, you will need to download the Brisk It app and connect the smoker to your home’s WiFi. The app itself is incredibly useful, not just for controlling the smoker but for learning how to use it, as there’s an entire section of the app dedicated to tutorials. Even if you tend to be a bit old school when it comes to grilling, the Brisk It app stands out as an important accessory to this high-tech smoker.

Before you throw your first rack of ribs on the Origin 580, you will want to season the smoker to burn off any residual oils or remnants from the manufacturing process. The app guides you through this step, and after running the grill for 30 minutes at 400 degrees, you’re ready to start cooking.

Artificial intelligence is a big buzz phrase lately, but how it’s used differs greatly from product to product. In the case of the Origin 580, the smoker’s AI technology takes on a two-pronged approach.

First, you can access what Brisk It calls “Vera AI,” where you can ask the grill for a custom recipe for whatever it is that you want to cook. It will generate a set of step-by-step instructions for you to follow, and you can make adjustments as needed to align with your grilling goals.

Second, whether you’re following a pre-developed or custom recipe in the app, the smoker uses AI to automate your cooking experience. The Origin 580 is able to organize pre-cook prep, adjust its own temperature, and send you notifications to keep you updated on your meal’s progress. You can manually intervene as you see fit, but it’s neat to have a smoker that’s smart enough to take a few cooking instructions and run with them.

It streamlines the grilling experience

We’ll get right to the point here: The Brisk It Origin 580 is the real deal, and it makes smoking meat an easy, hands-off process.

When cooking on a new smoker, I like to start with a tri-tip, a cut of meat that isn’t an all-day process like a brisket, but still can be cooked low and slow for a few hours. I ended up turning to Vera AI for a recipe recommendation — I told the app the internal temperature I wanted and the time when I wanted it to be ready. From there, I turned the cooking process over to the AI-powered smoker.

I’ve had a WiFi-enabled Recteq Flagship XL smoker for over a year, and while I love it, I find myself constantly checking the app to make sure my meats aren’t cooking too fast or too slow, making little temperature adjustments to keep things progressing on time. The Origin 580, on the other hand, did all that for me. I instinctually checked the app several times, only to see the Brisk It smoker adjusting the temperature on the fly to keep my tri-tip on track to finish cooking at the time I specified.

I left the smoker to do its work, and when I returned from a workout at the gym, the tri-tip had just reached its target temperature. I removed the meat from the grill, let it sit for about 20 minutes, and sliced into it to find a near-perfect medium cut of tri-tip.

I typically do most of my smoking on the weekend, as I like to monitor the meat to make sure things go just right. However, I made this recipe after work on a weekday, and it worked out great. The hands-off cooking process opens up all kinds of cooking possibilities for the future.

The app has a great selection of recipes

While I let Vera AI create a recipe for my tri-tip, the Brisk It app also had a delicious-looking recipe for a coffee rub tri-tip. It’s just one of dozens of tasty meals tucked into the app — you can find anything from brisket to Korean beef short ribs, smoked queso dip, hatch chili cheeseburgers, and even pizza.

Each recipe includes the prep time, cooking time, number of servings, difficulty rating, and a recommended pellet flavor. It also lists the ingredients and tools you need. Once it’s time to start grilling, you just have to hit the button in the app that says “Send to Grill.” The Origin 580 will then take the wheel, setting the smoker to the right temperature and identifying the target temperature for your meat.

You can, of course, use your own recipes, but if you want to try something new, the Brisk It app offers plenty of options to add to your repertoire.

It comes with solid temperature probes

There’s a lot I like about my RecTeq smoker, but I have to say it comes with downright dainty temperature probes for keeping tabs on your meat. The Brisk It Origin 580, by comparison, offers a pair of heftier, more durable-feeling probes. I haven’t had any issues with either option when it comes to reading temperatures, but the Origin 580’s probes instill more confidence when it comes to accuracy and longevity.

It’s not as durable as I hoped

Maybe there’s some bias due to its size and weight, but the Reqteq Flagship XL is a tank of a smoker that screams quality and durability. I don’t doubt that the Brisk It will provide tons of great cooking, but it loses a bit of luster next to a juggernaut like the Reqteq — especially considering I accidentally snapped off one of the Origin 580’s handles as I was positioning it on my patio. While it’s reasonably priced compared to other smart pellet grills, the Origin 580 isn’t cheap, so I did expect its construction to be a bit more durable.

If you’re new to smoking and want a grill that makes the process nearly foolproof, this AI-powered smoker may be a worthwhile addition to your backyard. Brisk It is already known for its solid smokers, which are easy to set up and let you monitor your grilling from a smartphone, and with its AI technology, the new Origin 580 can essentially be your personal sous chef, taking any residual guesswork out of the grilling experience. Plus, it’s more reasonably priced than many other smart pellet smokers, retailing for around $700. (For comparison, the Recteq Flagship XL is around $1,600.)

While this grill is easy to use and yields great results, I would have liked it to be a tad more durable. However, if you consider its convenience factor, the Brisk It Origin 580 smoker is a high-tech addition to the grilling world and offers plenty of value to both novice and veteran grillers. If you’re in the market for a tool that streamlines smoking, you may want to embrace AI and make this nifty pellet grill part of your patio setup.