“Smell is a word, perfume is literature” – this famous quotation by legendary French perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena captures the profound artistry behind fragrance creation. Perfume: it’s a form of self-expression and a lifestyle statement. Fragrances don’t just carry scents; they serve as keys to unlock memories and emotions.
But what if artificial intelligence could also understand scents, crafting unique fragrances tailored to each individual? Could this redefine our perception of smell and bring an entirely new, highly personalized olfactory experience?
Can AI truly understand human senses, from sight and touch to even smell? This is a problem that computer scientists have been working to solve for years.
At the Museum of the Future in Dubai, a futuristic machine stands prominently on display. This large device is embedded with several glass containers, each filled with different fragrance ingredients. As indicator lights flash on, small perfume bottles are released one by one, while the machine precisely injects various aromatic elements into each container. The sleek, futuristic design and the swift, meticulous process make it appear as though a miniature perfume factory is unfolding right before your eyes. Amid the low hum of the machine and the murmurs of awe from the crowd gathered around it, a unique perfume is born in minutes – one that is unlike any other in the world.
“Our artificial intelligence can create exclusive perfumes based on each individual’s personality.” Frederik Duerinck, co-founder of the Dutch technology start-up ScenTronix, proudly said, “Our algorithm can generate over 500 billion fragrances, enabling true customization.”
Duerinck is a documentary filmmaker and artist. In 2017, he was commissioned by a fragrance company to conduct an art project in New York. The response was quite enthusiastic, which inspired Duerinck to start his own business.
One year later, he teamed up with Anahita Mekanik, a perfumer with over 20 years of experience in the industry, to launch EveryHuman, an AI-powered, personalized fragrance service. After 7 years of hard work, the EveryHuman fragrance algorithm has finally emerged from the lab, with its AI-powered fragrance machines now available in 8 countries, including the Netherlands, the UK, Italy, Dubai, and Sweden.
EveryHuman Enables AI to “Understand” Scents, Crafting 500 Billion Perfumes
The perfume industry has existed for centuries, and the process of creating a fragrance involves many complex steps and a significant workforce. First, a client’s request is sent to a fragrance company, where perfumers as well as sales, marketing, and legal teams collaborate to develop a scent based on the client’s needs. Then, the formula is sent to the laboratory, the perfumer begins to make the perfume, the product is handed over to the customer for subsequent adjustments and modifications, and finally the product is officially launched.
Creating a perfume not only requires a large workforce but also involves blending dozens or even thousands of ingredients. The quality of the fragrance is often highly dependent on the perfumer’s expertise and subjective taste.
Because of this, Duerinck believes that the perfumes on the market reflect the subjective value of their respective brands and are the brands’ “one-way output” to the public. What is missing is a connection that can resonate with consumers, and there is a lack of “personalization” elements. He points out that fragrance is so complex and multifaceted. If you want to find the most suitable permutation and combination for everyone among the complex fragrances, there is no other way but to use AI to match them. Duerinck added, “Sometimes, even we can’t predict what the aroma paired by AI will be. But that’s what makes it so fascinating.”
But how does AI understand fragrance? Duerinck explains that EveryHuman built its own scent database from scratch, collaborating with perfumers to condense thousands of fragrance data points into 46 unique “scent building blocks.” Each block contains between 2 and 20 different fragrance raw materials. Some blocks feature familiar scents like rich rose, refreshing grapefruit, or citrus while others include more abstract notes like “metallic.” EveryHuman plans to expand the number of these scent blocks further, allowing its algorithm to cover the entire flavor on the fragrance spectrum and even create new permutations and combinations.
How does EveryHuman do it? First of all, when a customer visits an EveryHuman location, they first fill out a questionnaire with a diverse set of questions, such as: “How would you describe your style?”; “What color best represents you?”; “If you could go somewhere right now, where would you go?”; and “What are your favorite activities?”
“These questions are not fill-in-the-blank questions that are either A or B. It does not mean that if a user is an extrovert, the system will assign them a citrus scent,” Duerinck explained. The questions are more complex than they appear, designed based on sociology, psychology, and physiology while also taking the user’s cultural background into account.
Lastly, which questions made users think for a long time, and which ones did they answer quickly? EveryHuman’s algorithm also considers how much time the user spends thinking about or answering certain questions as a variable in its decision-making process.
Once the user completes the questionnaire, EveryHuman processes the responses, and within minutes, AI generates 3 custom fragrance options. If the customer likes one of the AI-created scents, they can purchase it on the spot or order it online.
In addition, if users have different opinions on the fragrance prepared by AI, they can also schedule an online meeting with EveryHuman’s professional fragrance coach to fine-tune the formula themselves, or provide different opinions, and EveryHuman will feed these opinions back to its algorithm.
Creating 500 Billion Scents! EveryHuman Aims to Create “Fragrance Democratization.”
Duerinck says that through EveryHuman’s platform and algorithm, they can generate 500 billion different fragrances, achieving both “mass production” and “customization.”
So far, hundreds of thousands of people have used EveryHuman’s AI fragrance service to create their own personalized perfumes, driving a threefold increase in the company’s annual revenue.
The concept of AI-generated fragrances has quickly gained attention among influencers and key opinion leaders (KOLs). In addition to B2C sales, EveryHuman is expanding into the B2B sector, partnering with brands to help them rapidly design scent prototypes. At the same time, EveryHuman is also collaborating with interior design brands, moving from personal fragrances into home fragrance, broadening its product offerings.
Despite the innovation, EveryHuman’s perfumes are reasonably priced. Based on the on-site experience price, three bottles of 5ml customized perfume are priced at 45 euros; if consumers are interested in ordering larger volumes, a 30ml bottle is 65 euros, 50ml is 85 euros, and 100ml is 125 euros.
AI perfumes are transforming into sorcerers that capture the essence of an individual’s soul.
Perfume has long been regarded as works of art, so many people may question: Do perfumes made by technology lack the soul of art? Duerinck, however, sees it differently. He argues that if AI can produce high-quality perfumes that genuinely reflect each user’s individuality, then this traditional opposition between art and technology no longer applies. In his view, when technology creates a fragrance that deeply resonates with the person using it, it becomes a new form of artistic expression.
“I think our sense of smell is a primitive intuition and one of the most direct sensory experiences, embedded deep in our lives,” Duerinck said. “Just like the name ‘EveryHuman,’ we hope that everyone can get the best at an affordable price. A fragrance that represents one’s own self is the true ‘democratization of fragrance.’ This is a value that is unique to everyone and should not be defined by brands.”
Looking ahead, EveryHuman will continue to expand into different markets. In addition to the mass consumption field, it will also expand to the brand and health-care markets. Duerinck hopes that in the near future, more and more people will truly experience that AI is becoming a sorcerer that captures the essence of an individual’s soul, and each bottle of perfume made by AI is like a unique symphony in the world. The most unique fragrance chapter for everyone.
This article has been contributed to AsiaTechDaily.
