AI can detect molecules and particles in the air (assuming it has access to the proper human-built sensors). Probably better than human noses.
It can give you a full scientific analysis of those molecules. It’ll count them, sort them, and give you a detailed report about the individual and collective identities of what it finds.
And, it’ll emulate human smell by giving you answers like “spring rain,” or “fresh manure” (which is overwhelming me at my desk as I write this), or “burnt toast.”
But it can’t smell.
It can’t, from a whiff of newly powered-on electronics, be transported back to the school library in 4th grade as I saw and touched a computer (TRS-80) for the very first time.
It can’t, from a whiff of oil and grease, be transported to the garage floor under the car with my Dad and a pile of wrenches.
It can’t, from a whiff of butter and sugar, be transported to the kitchen with my Mom at Christmastime, scraping the bowl and dumping colored sugar on the hot cookies as they come out of the oven.
Smell is a visceral, emotional response to what’s in the air. It transports us.
AI can’t smell.
