ST. JOSEPH, Mich. (WNDU) - St. Joseph has become a place where big ideas and cold beer go hand in hand.
Democracy Brewing is a series of gatherings at local breweries during which everyday people come together to tackle some of today’s toughest topics.
Wednesday night’s subject: artificial intelligence.
Silver Harbor Brewing may have been the only place in town with ai and Ipas on tap at the same time.
Democracy Brewing takes those classic bar stool debates and gives them a purpose, turning conversation into community input and the focus on artificial intelligence and what it could mean for workers across Michigan.
Inside the brewery, local experts broke down what ai can do now, and where they see it heading the next few years, fielding questions from the crowd and looking for real-world policy solutions.
The biggest question hanging over the room: jobs. Audience members and panelists alike said they’re already seeing positions disappear, work getting automated, and human labor getting swapped out for software that doesn’t need a paycheck.
And panelists said unlike the European Union the U-S is unlikely to put up meaningful guardrails without public pressure, meaning regulation won’t happen unless people show up, speak up, and stay in the fight.
“The FDA regulates drugs and there’s trials and there’s all kinds of rigorous testing and scientific rigor that goes into drugs before we actually can prescribe those medications. Artificial intelligence is the same thing. It’s just as powerful, maybe more so, and we need it to be regulated. I think we as people, the citizenry, have a responsibility to help draft those laws and help make sure our politicians are taking care of that for us,” said Tom Castonzo a founder of Democracy Brewing.
Organizers said they’ll review the recording of the forum, then draft a letter to Michigan state representative Joey Andrews with proposed policy changes to strengthen the state’s existing ai workforce plan and make it more enforceable.
Stay up to date on local news with WNDU on-air and online. Be sure to download the 16 News Now App and follow our YouTube page as we continue to bring you the latest news coverage.
Copyright 2026 WNDU. All rights reserved.