Highlights April 2025

"Generation can predict and create entirely new molecules that have never been smelled before, that are more sustainable and that solve problems existing materials cannot address, such as toxicity and safety," says Alex Wiltschko, the company's founder and CEO.

Founded in 2023 with backing from Lux Capital and Google Ventures, Osmo combines data science, neuroscience, and chemistry to digitise smell. Its mission: to democratise access to perfumery and create new scent molecules that meet today's safety, regulatory and sustainability challenges.

With Generation, the company promises to shorten development times, reduce environmental impact, and open a new era for the global fragrance industry. Accelerating the creation of new perfumes more efficiently will mean more time to devote to the creative process, the company explains.

We spoke to Alex Wiltschko and Christophe Laudamiel, master perfumer at Osmo, to learn more about the advances Generation now offers.

Christophe Laudamiel. AI is already changing the way we create. But great perfumers, like great architects or chefs, will always be in demand.

AI improves, accelerates, and refines, but it does not replace intuition, artistry, or the ability to create something deeply human. Instead, it eliminates blind spots and optimises formulas.

AI can verify that a fragrance is not simply a repetition of something that already exists. It can find molecular shortcuts that replace five, six or even more traditional ingredients with a single high-performance one. Magic happens when machines and human noses work together.

The perfumer's role is only becoming more powerful with this new set of tools that Generation is providing.

Alex Wiltschko. We have completed our first chapter. We have formed a team and managed to digitise the smell in the lab.

The next chapter is Generation. We are creating fragrances for anyone, on a large scale. We are building a factory capable of producing a new batch of fragrance every 60 seconds robotically.

Generation will bring fragrance design and production to as many companies and individuals as possible. We will design and create the scent memories of the next century.

We also know that the digitising smell has numerous implications for human health and well-being, from detecting diseases and harmful environmental chemicals to developing repellents against harmful insects.

While Generation's work in fragrance remains our top priority for now, we know that as we continue to optimise our technology, both with Generation and at Osmo, and expand our body of research, we will open doors that could change the future of human health and well-being forever.

Alex Wiltschko. One of the most powerful aspects of OI (olfactory intelligence) is its ability to map and understand smell at a fundamental level. This means we can recreate the olfactory experience of fragrances that people once loved, but can no longer smell, whether due to discontinued ingredients, regulatory changes, or lost formulas.

However, Generation is not focused on making imitations. Instead, we use this ability to reimagine these fragrances in a way that remains true to their essence, while applying new ingredients and technology to bring them back in a modern and sustainable way.

Another recent study showed how Greek sculptures were infused with fragrances. According to research published in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology by Danish archaeologist Cecilie Brøns, statues of gods and illustrious figures were adorned not only with colours and jewels, but also with perfumed oils.

Texts by classical authors such as Cicero, Callimachus, and Pausanias document practices like ganosis, which involved applying mixtures of waxes and perfumes to sculptures, providing not only protection and shine, but also an immersive olfactory experience in religious or ceremonial contexts.

"It's fantastic when, as a researcher, you discover something new that brings us closer to the people of the past. What was it like to live in ancient Greece or Rome? Here, the senses can offer something completely unique, as it is an immediate way of 'getting in touch' with the past. Smell, in particular, has a great influence on people's behaviour, social interactions, and can greatly affect the experience of the sculptures," explains Cecilie Brøns.

The sculptures were meant to resemble living people and scent was a way to make them feel more real, the archaeologist adds. What might these statues have smelled like? According to Brøns, roses were widespread throughout the Mediterranean region and written sources mention how to make rose essence, so this would very likely have been a recurring fragrance.