Hello everyone and welcome back to the Cognixia podcast. Every week, we get together to talk about the latest happenings, bust some myths, discuss new concepts, and much more about emerging digital technologies. From cloud computing to DevOps, containers to ChatGPT, and Project management to IT service management, we cover a little bit of everything weekly to inspire our listeners to learn something new, sharpen their skills, and advance in their careers.
AI is finding so many applications that it is hard to keep up. Recently, we saw someone asking ChatGPT to help decide which of the vegetables & fruits they should buy from the superstore shelf. They took a picture of the basket of pineapples, mangoes, etc., then gave each fruit or vegetable in the picture a number, and asked ChatGPT to choose which one to buy. Surprisingly, the buyer was very happy with the choices, the picked vegetables and fruits were perfect! So, maybe no more picking each vegetable and fruit, tossing it in the air to check how heavy or light they are, or examining the surface, before buying. Just ask ChatGPT!
Well, in line with crazy applications, did you know that now your phone can smell? We all have been constantly debating whether our phones can hear us or if they are keeping an eye on us. Each time we have thought about something, say a holiday in some place, the sudden surge in ads and posts about that same destination, after all, may not be an uncanny coincidence, right? But smelling, now what’s this all about?
With the advances in AI technology, AI now has its version of a nose that can smell things. Researchers have built a system through which chemical compounds present in the air can be detected and analyzed, thereby identifying specific aromas & odors. This is called “digital olfaction”.
Intrigued? So were we. Of course, we went digging into how it works.
To understand that, let us begin with a very basic understanding of how our sense of smell works. When we smell something, it is our olfactory sense detecting the presence of specific compounds associated with that smell. The molecules of these compounds float about in the air, through which they enter our nose, where they bind to specific receptors in our nose. The signal is sent to the brain which processes it to identify what the smell is, and that’s when we realize that the delicious aroma that hit us as soon as we opened the door to that restaurant was a piping hot bowl of dal makhani that just came out of the kitchen making its way to a customer’s table.
And now, AI can do exactly this.
Of course, the AI doesn’t have a nose and a brain like humans do, but it has sensors and machine learning algorithms instead. Researchers were able to trap the aroma molecules in a freshly cut plum, analyze the structure of these molecules, and recreate that aroma back. This process is called Scent Teleportation.
Scent teleportation is a groundbreaking technology developed by Osmo that allows the capture, digitization, and transmission of scents. This innovative process involves capturing the molecular composition of a physical scent, translating it into digital data, and then recreating the scent at a remote location. To achieve this, Osmo utilizes advanced techniques like gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to analyze the chemical components of a scent. This data is then processed using artificial intelligence algorithms to create a digital representation of the scent. This digital representation can be stored, shared, and even modified to create new scent combinations.
If this is confusing, imagine taking a very high-resolution picture, but instead of visuals, you are capturing scents down to every pixel in the form of chemical signatures. Then, based on these molecules and chemical signatures, the aroma or scent is recreated, which would smell exactly like the original one.
While this technology is still in its early stages, it has the potential to revolutionize various industries. For example, it could enhance online shopping experiences by allowing customers to “smell” products remotely, improve virtual reality and augmented reality experiences by adding a sense of smell, and even aid in the development of new fragrances and flavors.
Or, imagine you could detect gas leaks before they got fatally dangerous. Or, detecting food spoilage before humans can and preventing food poisoning. There could be applications in healthcare too, since each microbe and each disease usually has a unique odor to it, which the AI could detect through digital olfaction, even before any recognizable symptoms show and the doctor can diagnose based on them. Our cities could get smarter as pollutants in the air could be detected and monitored much quicker and more efficiently than the AQL. Disastrous events like gas leaks could be avoided because the digital olfaction setups could detect the leaks way before any casualties could occur.
It would also revolutionize the personal and home fragrance as well as wellness segments. Imagine customizing your fragrances to smell exactly the way you like. Digital olfaction could help recreate the fragrance of those flowers you had at your wedding and then spray it again on your 25th anniversary. Or, recreating a perfume your dad used to wear when you were a child. Or, reliving the memories of that beautiful vacation you took in the mountains, through the scents you experienced there. You can see how the possibilities are endless.
But, here is the concerning part. If we outsourced our sense of smell to AI, does it make us even more dependent on them, than we already are? Will it diminish our human sense of smell, which otherwise is extremely essential for our survival and evolution? It could. So, using AI mindfully, like all other tech is required. Digital olfaction could be hugely beneficial in a lot of use cases, while in some human sense of smell and human instinct would be indispensable. The ideal way to go is to build a path that is strengthened by the collaboration of artificial and human intelligence. How it will turn out, it is too soon to say.
What can be said, without any doubt, is that AI is evolving a lot quicker than any of us anticipated or imagined. Interesting times to live in, isn’t it?
And, with that, we come to the end of this week’s episode of the Cognixia podcast. We will be back again next week with another interesting and exciting new episode. Till then keep your skills super sharp and your career momentum going.
Happy learning, folks!
