In a flawless, multi -million laboratory on the waterfront in Manhattan, right on the street from the homeless shelter and the doctor’s office, a piece of summer plum is transformed into a fragrance. This is the work of Osmo, a fragrance technological startup that claims to build artificial olfactory intelligence. Osmo designed this innovation to offer a turnkey fragrance that promises a 48-hour sample from the first customer monitor. While the Amazon Prime order arrives, you can now order non -standard perfumes.
Traditionally, creating a fragrance is not speedy. After the customer provides a low – usually mood, memory or concept – the perfumery starts weeks or months of attempts to formulate, combining and browsing dozens of modifications or “mods”. Everyone must settle before it can be assessed in terms of balance, projection and extending. They often need raw materials years cultivation. There are bottling, adjustment reviews, packaging and testing. From concept to shelf, individual perfumes can last from six to 18 months – even longer in luxury. And like good wines, fragrances differ depending on climate problems. The annual family does not smell like next or earlier.
Osmo built his shiny up-to-date empire, hoping to disturb the fragrance market, its digitization of plum and the speed at which it can analyze and transport fragrance molecules. Its purpose: disruption of the fragrance market with the smell of AI smell. For the first time I met the smell of this “digitized plum” at a fragrance conference, given to me an independent perfumenor, such as contraband. The group gathered around Blotter, whispering: she was too healing, too pristine. “Where is bruises, rot – warm?” Someone asked.
“Where is the craftsmanship? Where is the perfumery?”
I rated hundreds of perfumes blindly for international fragrances and worked on machine learning systems in technological startups. I know that attracting well -formulated fragrances – and the charm of non -fatty tech promises. For me, plum smelled of reality, although strangely enormous and genetically modified. I felt him from the yards – James and the giant plum, taking place in the direction of me from the story of Roald Dahl. But the question hanging in the air was greater than the fruit: when AI enters perfumery, or are we expanding access to beauty – do we automate the soul from it?
Ai is not approaching the smell – it is already here, in most things that smells of an average consumer. Four fragrance conglomerates responsible for most of what the world smells-DSM-Firmenich, Givaudan, IFF and Syrrise-Pzechistkie integrate artificial intelligence with their pipelines. The Carto Givaudana system helps perfumers improve formulas. DSM-firmenich emotions claim that they produce fragrances that improve well-being. These systems are used not only in product laboratories, but in fragrances around the world. Hairspray, soaps and cleaning products as well as a luxurious fragrance that come out of your shelves – they were all affected by these four perfume powers, just like AI involved in their processes. Main perfumer at DSM-Firmenich, Frank Voelkl, who stands behind the fragrances, which consist of so much of our current fragrance aura-Santal 33 Le Labo, Glossier’s You, Tuscan Hetht Tom Ford-Używa Ai every day as part of his artistic process. “When I started as a perfumer, there was no e -Mail – we still communicated with faxes, you know. I started by writing my formulas. The beauty of AI is that he manages regulatory fears, problems related to stability, phasing, performance. These tools are extremely helpful in solving technical problems, so I can focus on creative parts, what I need to focus on creative parts imagination, imagination, intrusion, an intruder, which is that it is somehow, what is some, what is it, that it is somewhat, and this is similar to a human factor.
Heather, perfume training in France, tells me that using AI is now a standard among its peers. “Most, if not all of my classmates, used artificial intelligence for each project or questions. Gen using it as an operational tool – older generations apply it like a browser.” When Heather says that the gene use artificial intelligence “like an operational tool”, means that they rely on it as a functional extension of the creative process – from choosing materials to improvement. Meanwhile, older generations still treat it as a secondary resource, such as a search engine or an inspiration board. For new creators, AI is not just a help – it is infrastructure, taking over the necessary parts of perfumery processes.
Pierre Vouard, a professor in Fit, sees both the opportunity and the loss: “Combining manually, knowing the exact amount of each material, weighing it himself – it will disappear. But is it crucial?” He knows that artificial intelligence is used in its own class. “Maybe it will be a real democratization of the smell, because it drastically reduces the costs of creating one. But this makes you ask: where is the artistry? Where is perfumers?”
“It was only about 100,000 fragrances. I want it to be millions.”
This question also applies to perfumer Michael Nordstrand. “Fragrances based on artificial intelligence celebrate specialists and attack people who do not know how to assess the smell beyond” yes or no “. And they will not say what sets of data or formulas they apply. “He adds that OSMO, despite repetitive demands, refused to explain what indicators or creative work are behind her models. Osmo refused to answer these questions with specific indicators when I also asked, stating that” he was still developing the system. ” While Osmo supports the work of his main perfumers, Christophe Laudamiel, he refused to give the names of other perfumer in his ecosystem.
In 1995, slightly below 400 new fragrances appeared all over the world. In 2023, the number exceeded 3,000. The founder of Osmo, Alex Wiltschko, wants this number to increase exponentially. “It was only about 100,000 fragrances. I want millions there,” he tells me. “Recent tools are an essential part of increasing beauty in the world.”
But the increase has a cost – especially on the environment. When I ask about energy consumption, Wiltschko claims that OSMO neural networks consume much less power than models such as chatgpt. “It will disappear compact,” he says. “We don’t need data centers. Our model of the neuron network chart takes less than an hour, compared to the world’s largest LLM at the moment.” However, he says that OSMO does not follow the energy consumption of its systems at all, and the company refused to share the life cycle assessment tests to compare with traditional fragrances reports.
So what is it – low enough to ignore or too muddy to report?
The reality is this: most consumers have no idea how many artificial intelligence is already embedded in their cosmetic products or the energy that it costs us. And the mystery around him is growing. Some independent brands, such as House of Bo, even use AI Deepfake movies to simulate the founders’ messages to customers – without disclosure. “I feel patronizing,” says LC James, fragrance consultant. “He hides work – and environmental costs.” Some online sellers go on. Teddy Haugen perfumer used his similarity without his consent in many perfume ads in which he was not involved. He shows me films he never made, where his voice patterns were replaced by someone, with words coming out of his artificially smoothed face – things he never said for perfumes that he never smelled. The number of unauthorized films is constantly increasing.
The beginnings of the perfume are far from data centers. Orris Root takes years before he is ready for formulation. Sandal wood also takes years to be ready for cultivation. Natural materials should be collected, aging, mixed. AI laboratories, such as OSMO, can send a non -standard sample within two days. This one without friction, though exciting, risks further detachment from the harsh, physical world.
Stéle, fragrance in Recent York, sees this first -hand tension. “We are often misled,” says Matt Belanger, co-owner of the shops. “Some brands say that they are directed by a perfume, but they really apply generators to copy the existing job. We love in the smell that deciding about your journey requires time, courage and power. It differs from the pressure of the button and quickly receiving something.” Jake Levy, his partner in life and in Stéle, adds: “So many people work with companies that are only a robot and receptionist. If the brands were simply clear in the case of apply, we would respect it much more.” The STéle team regularly controls the origin of every brand they are in. “If we don’t take the reins and start talking about the place of artificial intelligence in perfumery,” warns Nordstrand, “it will leave us … it’s like how Jurassic Park. We were so busy with thinking about whether we couldNobody stopped asking if we should. “