How much are we exposed to alcohol in electronic media? Development of the Alcoholic Beverage Identification Deep Learning Algorithm (ABIDLA)

•57,186 images were annotated and used to train four deep learning algorithms (DLA).•With 91.9 % annotators-expert congruency, annotation quality was high.•DLA identified between 73.4 % and 85.2 % of images were correctly.•Beverage-specific accuracy was 81.6 % for wine/champagne and 77.2 % for beer.•DLA are able to identify alcoholic beverages from context-related/‘real-life’ images. Evidence demonstrates that seeing alcoholic beverages in electronic media increases alcohol initiation and frequent and excessive drinking, particularly among young people. To efficiently assess this exposure, the aim was to develop the Alcoholic Beverage Identification Deep Learning Algorithm (ABIDLA) to automatically identify beer, wine and champagne/sparkling wine from images. Using a specifically developed software, three coders annotated 57,186 images downloaded from Google. Supplemented by 10,000 images from ImageNet, images were split randomly into training data (70 %), validation data (10 %) and testing data (20 %). For retest reliability, a fourth coder re-annotated a random subset of 2004 images. Algorithms were trained using two state-of-the-art convolutional neural networks, Resnet (with different depths) and Densenet-121. With a correct classification (accuracy) of 73.75 % when using six beverage categories (beer glass, beer bottle, beer can, wine, champagne, and other images), 84.09 % with three (beer, wine/champagne, others) and 85.22 % with two (beer/wine/champagne, others), Densenet-121 slightly outperformed all Resnet models. The highest accuracy was obtained for wine (78.91 %) followed by beer can (77.43 %) and beer cup (73.56 %). Interrater reliability was almost perfect between the coders and the expert (Kappa = .903) and substantial between Densenet-121 and the coders (Kappa = .681). Free from any response or coding burden and with a relatively high accuracy, the ABIDLA offers the possibility to screen all kinds of electronic media for images of alcohol. Providing more comprehensive evidence on exposure to alcoholic beverages is important because exposure instigates alcohol initiation and frequent and excessive drinking.