Can computers….smell? Apparently, yes, and almost as well as humans can!
A company spun out from Google Research used machine learning to train a computer on 5,000 molecules whose smell has been well-documented. It learned connections between molecular structure and odor, then created a map to show the connection between the two. Here's what happened when they put it to the test... 

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Apparently, yes, and almost as well as a human can.

This company spun out of Google research used machine learning to train a computer on 5,000 molecules whose smell has been well-documented and then learn connections between molecular structure and odor.

So this is molecular structure and how humans perceive its smell.

To put it to the test, they gave this computer 400 odor molecules that it had never seen and asked it to predict their smell.

And then they hired a panel of trained human sniffers, real thing, and asked them to label those same odors.

Right now this company is using this tech to find environmentally friendly and easily synthesized molecules to use for perfumes.

But in the future they hope to use it to do more, like figure out what odors most effectively repel bugs that carry disease.

If you like optimistic science and tech stories follow.


Speaker 0: Can computers smell? Apparently, yes, and almost as well as a human can. This company spun out of Google research used machine learning to train a computer on 5,000 molecules whose smell has been well-documented and then learn connections between molecular structure and odor. And then it created this map of it all. So this is molecular structure and how humans perceive its smell.

They call it the principal odor map. To put it to the test, they gave this computer 400 odor molecules that it had never seen and asked it to predict their smell. And then they hired a panel of trained human sniffers, real thing, and asked them to label those same odors. And the results were almost identical. Right now this company is using this tech to find environmentally friendly and easily synthesized molecules to use for perfumes.

But in the future they hope to use it to do more, like figure out what odors most effectively repel bugs that carry disease. If you like optimistic science and tech stories follow.

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Can Computers Smell? (YES)