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AI Recreates Scents of Extinct Flowers and Trees
6 Oct
Summary
- AI predicts and recreates scents from endangered plants.
- Companies use biotechnology to produce fragrant compounds.
- Conservationists question if synthetic scents aid plant survival.
Advances in artificial intelligence and biotechnology are enabling the fragrance industry to recreate scents from endangered plants without necessitating repeated harvesting. Companies like Osmo are using AI to predict and reproduce smells, having successfully recreated the scent of a rare tree from a tiny bark sample. This involves analyzing a sample with a spectrometer, reconstructing the chemical formula, and then synthesizing the scent.
Other firms, such as BioHarvest Sciences, are developing stable cell cultures from endangered plants to produce valuable fragrance compounds. They anticipate producing significant quantities of these scents, with limited production potentially starting next year. This approach aims to bridge the gap between unlimited human demand and limited biological supply by using nature's gifts without increasing pressure on source organisms.
Despite these technological strides, conservationists and perfumers remain skeptical. They argue that creating synthetic versions of endangered plant scents does not equate to conservation and could be considered 'greenwashing.' Critics point out that such processes do not save the plants themselves or address other threats leading to species decline. While AI can assist in designing alternatives, the demand for wild-sourced materials persists, indicating that the pressure on wild species may not be entirely alleviated.
