AI system does better than humans at identifying odors
A novel scent model (AI system), trained by a computer, has outperformed humans in the identification of odors. In an analysis encompassing 500,000 potential odor molecules that had never been synthesized previously, this computer-driven model efficiently completed work that would have taken approximately 70 person-years to accomplish. To level the playing field between human and computerized sensory input, a study led by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania’s Monell Chemical Senses Center, in collaboration with colleagues from Osmo (a spin-out of Google DeepMind), devised a neural-network-based system capable of evaluating an odor molecule and articulating, in human terms, how that molecule should smell. This AI system led to the creation of what the researchers have termed a “Principal Odor Map” (POM). The AI system can discern the relationship between how molecules Joel Mainland, a senior research co-author from Monell, stated, “In olfaction research, the question o...