AI that can even understand smells
Former Google researcher Alex. Osmo, a new startup founded by Alex Wiltschko, is developing another AI skill: understanding and generating "smells."
According to "CNBC", Wilchko was fascinated by smell when he was young and completed a PhD in olfactory neuroscience at Harvard University. He later led a research team at Google focused on using machine learning to predict how molecular structure affects smell. This research eventually became the basis for the establishment of Osmo in 2022. The company's goal is to digitize the sense of smell.
Wilczko believes that smells contain rich information that could be used to detect diseases, such as cancer or diabetes. Before reaching the long-term goal of detecting diseases, Osmo's short-term goal is to use AI to generate safer, more environmentally friendly fragrance molecules and apply them to products such as perfume, shampoo and laundry detergent to reduce damage to the skin and eyes. Stimulate.
How does Osmo train AI’s sense of smell?
Osmo spent a year working with perfume companies to obtain thousands of molecules and their scent descriptions, and then fed the data into a technology called "Graphic Neural Networks" (GNNs), which can help AI understands the connection between molecular structure and smell.
Analyzing odors is difficult for computers because the molecular structures are so complex. Wilchko explains that by changing just one small part of the molecule, the smell can change from that of roses to that of rotten eggs. But as AI technology advances, models can begin to grasp the patterns in these structures and accurately predict the smell of other molecules, even better than humans.
AI applications in healthcare continue to grow
In an interview with "CNBC", Wilchko said that he hopes to use Osmo technology to achieve "instant smell transmission" in the future, that is, to digitize the smell of one place and accurately reproduce it in another place. In this way, you can verify whether the AI model really understands a certain smell, because as long as the smell is different, it means that the model is not accurate enough.
In addition, Osmo will also work towards its long-term goal of using AI technology to identify diseases.
According to Techopedia, the application of AI in the medical field continues to grow. Currently, the global AI market is approximately US$23 billion, and according to Polaris Market Research, this market may grow to US$431 billion by 2032 as more industries and governments invest in machine learning in the medical field.
Source: CNBC, CoinTelegraph, Techopedia
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