An IBM AI Invented Perfumes That'll Soon Sell in 4,000 Stores

These fragrances were dreamed up by Waton's creative cousin, Philyra.

Eau de AI

We already knew that IBM's artificial intelligence (AI) Watson was a "Jeopardy" champion that dabbled in cancer diagnosis and life insurance.

Now, according to a new story in Vox, a cousin of Watson has accomplished an even finer task: creating perfumes. Soon, these AI-invented perfumes will go on sale in about 4,000 locations in Brazil.

Smell Curve

Fragrances have traditionally been created by sought-after perfumers. But Symrise, a German fragrance company with clients including Avon and Coty, recently struck a deal with IBM to see how its AI tools could be used to modernize the process.

IBM created an algorithm — its name is Philyra, according to Datanami — that studies fragrance formulas and customer data, then spits out new perfumes inspired by those training materials.

Nose Warmer

The first results of the collaboration are two scents, and the AI-invented perfumes will soon go on sale at O Boticário, a prominent Brazilian beauty chain. Spokespeople declined to confirm to Vox precisely which fragrances were invented by the AI.

It's a sure sign, though, that AI creations are starting to leak out into the world of consumer products — and next time you sniff a sampler, it's possible that it wasn't formulated by a human at all.

READ MORE: Is AI the Future of Perfume? IBM Is Betting on It [Vox]

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