How Perfumers are Using Artificial Intelligence to Create New Fragrances

How perfumers are using Artificial Intelligence to create new fragrances

Did you know the new fragrance you just purchased likely utilized AI (artificial intelligence) in its composition, planning and even packaging. That is because the world’s top perfumers are leveraging AI’s ability to track, analyze and make sense of massive amounts of data that would have taken humans years and years to complete. Call it the Age of AI Perfumery.

“The great thing about artificial intelligence is that is processes all the data we have in an incredibly short time. And it allows us to understand ingredients and how they enhance emotions,” explains perfumer Domitille Michalon-Bertier. “Based on this knowledge, artificial intelligence suggests combinations of ingredients that ensure a fragrance is boosting specific emotions. This approach means perfumers can come up with new paths that would otherwise not be possible.” To put this into perspective, perfumers have a palette of 2,500 ingredients to draw from when formulating a fragrance. 500 of these are natural ingredients and 2000 synthetic. The proportions of the ingredients in the blend are crucial as changing one ingredient by even 1/100^th can alter how the perfume smells. That is why analyzing all the possible combinations of notes gives perfumers new freedom in writing a fragrance formula.

“It’s all about an element of surprise! To some extent, artificial intelligence endows me with extra creative power.”

Well Being

The global fragrance house that created the new Moschino Toy 2 Pearl fragrance have harnessed the invisible power of scent on our mindsets, memories and mood. Certain nodes in the human brain are activated with specific scents and by adopting a neuroscientific approach, the fragrance house is able to reveal the potential of carefully selected ingredients to achieve an all-encompassing wellness.

This approach is known as the science of wellness, a unique program that combines artificial intelligence and ingredients exclusive to International Flavours and Fragrance (one of the world’s top fragrance producers) and over 40 years of data on consumer scent preferences. This tool allowed Domtille to create a perfume that contains both emotive and cognitive properties for Moschino. It’s a fragrance that stimulates the sensation of luminous joyfulness and youthful energy in its wearer.

New combinations

One of the biggest challenges in modern perfumery is getting a group of ingredients to blend seamlessly into one cohesive scent. Some notes are much more aggressive than others and can easily overwhelm a composition unless handled with skill. Jasmine is a great example. The heady white flower can have a very strong aroma. Perfumers will often tone it down by adding a little rose oil which immediately lessens the intensity. It is the same with tuberose. Artificial intelligence can now analyze thousands of scent combinations to recommend the best combinations. What’s exciting is AI will often reveal unexpected ingredients adding to a perfumer’s creativity.

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