When Will AI Be Able to Generate Scents?

Digital Scent: One of the Last Frontiers Between Virtual and Real, and How It’s Set to Transform User Experience

In recent years, generative artificial intelligence has transformed the digital landscape. From summarizing and composing text to creating images, videos, and even music, AI continues to push boundaries. Yet one sense remains untouched: smell.

Scent is unlike visuals or sound it’s deeply tied to chemistry, biology, and personal emotions. To create a scent, physical production of chemical compounds is required to interact with the human olfactory system. This makes replicating scent far more complex than generating an image or sound.

However, progress is being made. Companies like Osmo AI are pioneering technologies to bring scent into the digital world, a concept often referred to as “scent teleportation.” This innovation could revolutionize branding, enabling companies to pair visual identity elements like logos, colors, and fonts with a unique scent.

For industries like retail, food, and hospitality, the potential is enormous. Imagine experiencing the scent of a perfume before purchasing it online or previewing the aroma of a meal before ordering delivery. Beyond branding, "electronic nose" systems are being developed to analyze chemical structures for applications such as advanced medical diagnostics or monitoring agricultural produce.

A Philosophical Marketing Perspective

For now, the absence of scent in the digital world serves as a reminder of the line between the physical and virtual. But what happens if this "missing sense" is bridged? If AI learns to create scents, could this mark the final frontier in the convergence of human and machine?

What about taste, which is closely linked to smell? Could digital scent technologies lead to virtual flavors, offering entirely new culinary experiences? For marketers, this raises profound questions: How can scent and taste influence the customer journey?

Scent evokes memories, stirs emotions, and creates immediate connections. As a sensory experience, it can amplify a brand's identity, making it unforgettable. The future of branding might lie in blending the digital and physical senses, creating a truly immersive customer experience.