Science
Google AI can tell what things smell like by the molecular structure
An artificial intelligence model that maps the structure of molecules to their smell could help create specific food tastes or find compounds to better repel disease-carrying organisms like mosquitoes
Technology
12 September 2022
What we smell is linked to the structure of chemical molecules in the air, but many subjective factors influence it John Howard/Getty Images
Google has used an artificial intelligence to produce a map that relates smells to the structures of molecules. It is as reliable as a human in describing the odour of a substance and the researchers behind the work say it is a crucial step towards digitising odours.
The hope is that the AI model could eventually be used to identify new scents for fragrances and flavours for food science, or come …
