The art of creating perfume dates back to ancient Greece, but contemporary perfumers are starting to use more senses than just their noses to create aromas that will appeal to us. Rather, they are relying on AI & Algorithmic Perfumery.
Have you ever wondered why certain colognes are so much more appealing than others? Would you be surprised to learn some colognes are now custom designed using AI to trigger emotional responses or arouse positive feelings such as happiness, relaxation, or even arousal.
Fine fragrances may be the last frontier to be impacted by A.I. & M.L., but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to craft a scent using robots. Many perfumers today are using A.I. to create scents.
While algorithmic perfumery is not breaking news to industry insiders… many are shocked when they learn the fragrance houses responsible for creating today’s most popular perfumes utilize AI for up to 90% of their creation efforts. I guess it all makes sense when you take the time to think about it. I mean, the biggest brands surely wouldn’t spend millions of dollars promoting a new perfume/cologne unless they have statistics to ensure it will be a global best seller. So Yes, it is very likely Your favorite cologne was created by robots.
Current A.I. & M.L. research & development, spearheaded by specialty R&D firms, falls outside of the control of big fragrance houses. This currently has the most secretive industry on the planet in a tail spin. Manufacturers who have never had access to production fragrance formulas can now create their own perfumes using similar tech. as the big firms thanks to today’s technology and specialized fragrance & flavor datasets.
Most people envision hundreds of chemists all working together in white lab coats mixing potion after potion to create mass-market scents that will perform across all continents. Today, this is just not the case. Data-Sets of proven perfumes and products are analyzed, patterns are uncovered, and AI & ML now take the lead. Of course, there will always be a need for perfumers to perfect the scent, but 90% of the work is now done by algorithmic perfumery. This has also taken the scent creation process from weeks or years down to seconds, with text to formula technology.
Jody Soileau is the co-founder of Innosol, Inc. and has spent over 24 years in fragrance creation, manufacturing, and most recently in developing Algorithmic Perfumery, AI perfume creation apps, AromaTune, and licensing fragrance & flavor datasets.