University of Auckland engineering students have developed an AI concept that turns meaningful photographs into personalised fragrance profiles. The system analyses the visual, emotional and contextual features of an image before suggesting scents intended to reflect the associated memory.
The concept, called Mémoire, reached the global finals of L’Oréal’s Brandstorm innovation competition in Paris. The New Zealand team was selected as one of six finalists from more than 380,000 applications worldwide.
Key facts
- Users begin by uploading a personally meaningful photograph.
- The AI identifies visual and emotional cues and generates a suggested fragrance profile.
- The team won the Australia and New Zealand stage of the competition.
- It was the first New Zealand team to win the regional final in the competition’s 30-year history.
- The concept was presented at the VivaTech technology event in Paris.
Our take
This is a positive New Zealand example of AI being combined with creativity and product design, rather than being used simply to automate an existing task.
The concept is still at an early stage, but it shows how AI can help translate information between very different formats, in this case turning visual and emotional cues into a potential physical product.
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