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Ex-Google Researcher Explains How His New AI Startup Can Generate Digital Scents
- Written by Andrea Miliani Former Tech News Expert
- Fact-Checked by
Alex Wiltschko, former Google researcher and current CEO and co-founder of the startup Osmo, has recently revealed how his company is using AI to digitize scent in an interview with CNBC Make It.
“It’s been my passion to try to understand smell. It’s this very powerful emotional sense, yet we know so little about it,” said Wiltschko to the journal. The scientist earned a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from the University of Michigan. Before working for Google, Wiltschko studied olfactory neuroscience at Harvard University and earned his Ph.D. in 2016.
At Google Research, he dedicated 5 years to leading a machine-learning team focused on understanding and predicting smells based on molecule structures. He launched Osmo in January 2023, with a mission to “improve human health and happiness” with scent digitalization.
“Vision and hearing have been digitized, but not smell — our oldest and deepest sense,” states the startup’s home page . “Osmo brings together frontier AI and olfactory science to solve this historic challenge.”
When asked why computers should be given the ability to smell, Wiltschko explained that if computers learn to interpret smell data, they can detect diseases in the future, as smell is a very important sense in medicine.
To teach computers to “smell,” Wiltschko and his team created a “principal odor map” while working at Google, processing 5,000 aroma molecules and creating categories like minty, floral, or fruity.
It was not an easy task as these molecules are very complex and sensitive. “You can move one tiny thing around in that molecule, like one bond, and the scent of the molecule goes from roses to rotten egg,” he explained. With the help of AI, the model could process patterns and accurately predict the smell of other molecules.
Unlike other current AI projects, relevant scent data is not easily available to train the models Osmo uses. “We actually spent about a year working with companies in the fragrance industry that had what they thought were great datasets, which we found were not,” said Wiltschko.
Now Osmo wants to continue digitizing scents and recreate them in different locations to prove that the AI model can truly work. “We will eventually be able to detect disease with scent and we’re on our way to building that technology,” he said.
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New Silent Hill 2 Remake Trailer and Early Reviews Go Viral
- Written by Andrea Miliani Former Tech News Expert
The Polish video game development studio Bloober Team has released a new story trailer for the upcoming remake of Silent Hill 2 . The video has gone viral on social media and gamers’ expectations are high as multiple websites have shared early reviews today, ahead of the official launch of the game for PlayStation 5 and Steam, set for October 8.
“’James, honey, did something happen to you?’” wrote Bloober Team in a post on X, alluding to the first dialogue in the new trailer. “Watch the official story trailer for SILENT HILL 2 now and discover the emotional stories behind the characters James will encounter.”
“James, honey, did something happen to you?” Watch the official story trailer for SILENT HILL 2 now and discover the emotional stories behind the characters James will encounter. Coming to PlayStation 5 & PC via Steam on October 8. #SILENTHILL #BlooberTeam #KONAMI pic.twitter.com/dyPd60gURn — Bloober Team (@BlooberTeam) August 19, 2024
The new game appeals to gamers’ nostalgia as it replicates the original Silent Hill 2 game released in 2001 by Team Silent from the Japanese entertainment company Konami—publishers of the game. Bloober Team’s purpose with the remake in 2024 is to “terrify modern audiences,” according to the information shared on their website .
“I am 41 years old. One of the defining games of my life. The music, the story, the atmosphere… I can’t wait to buy it!” wrote another user on Youtube today. However, not all fans seemed to like the fresh trailer. “I’m still not seeing a good reason to play this over the original,” wrote an X user .
The gaming website IGN shared a hands-on video preview on YouTube showing players what to expect from the game—the reporter played the game for more than 3 hours—and it reached over 20,000 views within the first 2 hours.
Another official reviewer from PlayStation Japan shared a hands-on report on the PlayStation Blog, explaining how the story begins and develops as well as more details about sound and visual effects from Bloober Team’s adaptation. TechRadar and PCGamer also shared opinion pieces.
Other gaming companies like Atari have also appeared to users’ nostalgia by relaunching games from previous generations this year.
