I will admit that I am not the greatest enthusiastic AI. Among the writers like me, AI is like the great evil (unknown) wolf that threatens to rob us of our means of living. So when I was given the opportunity to create my own “dream fragrance” with the help of AI robots, I would better believe that I approached the experience with a healthy dose of skepticism. But as someone who has always struggled to find the scent of the signature and who has a very personal relationship with the fragrance through the emotion (I can see what some perfume smells), I was also excited – and upon the challenge.
Enter: Algorithmic perfume from Everyhumanthat allows users to create their unique aroma with the help of AI. The spiritual child of Anahita Mekanik-who had previously worked with perfumes in various brands of perfume-and “artist-technologist” Frederick Duerinck is self-described as “the first world platform guided by fragrance”. Gemini’s driving motivation? To democratize the perfume industry so that everyone can become a creator. “Our mission is for creative service,” says Mekanik. “We believe that every human being is a creator and should be able to create something that reflects them, especially something so familiar and historically exclusive as the fragrance,” Mekanik adds.
It may sound ironic, but despite being an AI brand, the team insists that the algorithmic perfume was also developed to bring more personal touch to the perfumery: “The platform is a factor to create something really personal and not something available to you,” Mekanik explains. “Borrow the algorithm and work with it.”
The process felt, of course, as a strange dream of fever. But he had also hooked me.
The algorithm they speak? It’s one that I now have first -hand experience. The process begins with the creation of an account with Everyhuman, followed by a series of (increasingly unexpected) questions designed to match you with combinations of smells that are suitable for you. These include multiple choice prompts such as “I answered these questions …” with choices such as “imitating my favorite character” or “from the point of view of one of my multiple personality”. Then there are more specific questions about the kind of smells you like (Florals; Woody Notes; Smoky fragrances?). You can also sort yourself to a sliding scale for questions such as: “Do you want your aroma to be more night or day?” And “how would you describe yourself: analytical or intuitive?”
This part of the process felt, of course, as a strange dream of fever, and I wondered what the importance of which I prefer or how emotionally considering myself was in the creation of a fragrance. But I was also hooked on me: as someone who has a level of emotion, where one feeling (such as the smell) automatically triggers a reaction to another (such as vision or taste), I openly embrace the creative relationship between the smell, memory, emotion and personality.
After completing the strange-and no more strange questionnaire, I was expecting my three personalized vials to arrive by mail. Interesting to see how well a computer program could really know what my nose liked, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I got back my box sleeve. In True Goldilocks and the style of the three bears, when I smelled my scents, it turned out to be a case too, very little and enough.
While my aroma reminded me of some smells I had already belonged to and I loved, there was something I could not put my finger to put the smell of it, probably because it was a completely adapted creation.
The first, a fruity, floral Friday that combines pure white calf, spring -like -like flowers (a lightweight, citrus floral), was just very strong for me. Both Apple (or orange) Blossom and Neroli are two notes that I don’t actively like because they are very powerful florals that can crush other ingredients, so I hope there was room in the questionnaire to make notes you want to avoid. The next, with rose, peach, again, more white calf, smelled old -fashioned for me and didn’t give me much.
Fortunately, my third creation, a woody, smoked elixir that combines incense (1.6% fragrance) and tobacco (16.7% fragrance), was completely on my way. It smelled rich and captivating when sprayed on the skin, but the dust and soft, thin notes of blush added a touch of sweetness when dried on my skin. Although it reminded me of some smells I had already belonged to and I loved, there was something I could not put my finger to put the smell of it, probably because it was a completely custom creation – something that made it not to come in a fancy bottle.
I really liked that the fragrance was left not only to my skin, but in the air and in my clothes when I was sprayed, which meant that the size of the 5ml (FYI, you could buy individual bottles 30ml and 50ml) lasted much longer. This really felt like my personal secret aroma that smelled expensive, cool and, of course, unique. I couldn’t wait to wear it and answer, “Oh, I created myself”, to anyone who asks where it was from.
My favorite part of the process was the 20 -minute monitoring of one by one “fragrance training”, essentially a zoom call, which all users have access to as part of the £ 45 experience that includes three creations. Speaking with a perfume in the brand, you have the opportunity to modify your fragrances in harmony with your preferences and then receive your new options at the mail several days later. Alternatively, you can change some concentrations to yourself online if you prefer to skip the call. We decided on the fruity, floral fragrance – with the label 01 – we had to lose the flower and white calf and incorporate florals I preferred, and we agreed that my favorite, 03, would benefit from being a little more dust. The personal touch added to the process was a surprise to me, as I always insisted I would hate anything AI touched.
This is one of the brand’s biggest points of sale – and a key appeal of AI’s role in Perfumery as a whole. Instead of removing the intimacy and individuality of the production of perfumes (delivering it to a robot), it really opens the doors for more: “More people want perfumes that feel personally, something they will find on a department store shelf,” Perfumer says Gustavo romero. “They want to smell like themselves, or as a specific moment in their lives. AI makes this kind of adapted approach more accessible.”
AI perfume brands – along with several trusts – also agree that this introduction can complete the work of top perfumers. Recent examples of this – in the mainstream, no less – include the creation of Paradoxe Virtual Flower of Prada fragrance. Master Perfumers Nadège Le Garlantezec, Shyamala Maisondieu and Antoine Maisondieu worked with AI as a “creative partner” to develop AI Jasmine Accord.
Thibaud Crivelli, founder and creative director of the brand Perfume Maison crivelliHe says that although he does not use AI in his creative process, he allows perfumers to use it if needed: “The talent of the most famous perfumers is based on duality between science and art,” he tells me. “If AI becomes a technical tool that supports the creative process, it could complete the artistic approach of perfumers and not replace it.”
For Alex Wilttschko, founder and CEO of Generation of osmoA fragrance home supported by olfactory intelligence (OI), AI democrates the fragrance industry for brands and creators of all sizes – and making it much more effective. “He has streamlined the creation of perfumes, automating recurring tasks, which allow perfumers to spend less time in manual pain and more time to create custom perfumes,” he tells me. The future, he says, is unlimited: “There have been only 100,000 fragrances ever made because the traditional process is expensive and time consuming, but I want this number to be millions.”
The disadvantage? The most made perfumes “especially out there, the less individualistic – and attractive – are done. “In an ironic way, the more people want something unique, the more they seem to appreciate the human touch behind it,” Romero believes. The double sword doesn’t stop there. Amanda CarrA perfume author and a trend prediction points out that there is real concern in the framework of the fragrance industry that while AI systems could improve effectiveness, they can also lead to job losses for people they replace. This could eventually lead to a loss of personalized creativity, Crivelli notes.
I agree that the biggest tool for finding your signature tumult is your nose, not a computer. But AI systems now help put us on the right track and express what we really like. Whether the complexity of the perfumery AI is causing concern for you or not, one thing we can all agree on is that brands such as Everyhuman – and the algorithmic sophistication system – bring something new to the table, which allows it us to become aromas. These developments also serve as a reminder that in the world of beauty, technology is still at the heart of modern innovation – and shows no sign of deceleration.
This story was originally published in Rifinery29 UK.
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