AI can classify images, generate language and increasingly model the physical world. Smell presents a harder problem: the same molecule does not necessarily produce the same percept across people, contexts or experiences.

This interactive event explores three complementary questions:

Can a machine smell?

Artificial olfaction, chemical sensors and machine learning.

Can a machine predict what you smell?

Human olfaction, neuroscience and computational modelling of perception.

Can a machine create something you want to smell?

Applications in fragrance, beauty and sensory innovation.

Participants will first experience a short live smell demonstration revealing both common patterns and individual differences in perception. The discussion will then connect machine sensing, human perceptual modelling and industry applications.

The broader question is not only whether AI can predict smell, but how AI should learn when human perception itself is part of the ground truth.

The event aims to connect researchers, sensory artists and industry around an emerging field at the intersection of machine learning, neuroscience and sensory innovation.