Artificial Olfaction or Olfactory Intelligence?

An evening of conversation that will introduce you perceptually and conceptually to the world of scent created by deep learning application

Join us for "Artificial Olfaction or Olfactory Intelligence?", an evening of conversation and scents that will introduce you perceptually and conceptually to the world of scents created by deep learning applications. While we have seen all the colors we are capable of seeing, we have only smelled a minuscule portion of all smells. With the help of artificial intelligence researchers, perfumers, and artists are now exploring the vast universe of possible smells and making new discoveries that result in new smells while moving us closer to an understanding of our most mysterious sense.

At this event, experts, including Andreas Keller (Olfactory Art Keller), Pablo Meyer Royas (IBM), Sean Raspet (Patina), and M Dougherty (scent artist, researcher, and creative technologist), will talk in a panel discussion about their efforts and experiences before answering audience questions. Afterwards, you'll have the chance to interact with scents created by artificial intelligence, including fragrance molecules that don't exist in nature and have never been smelled before.

Biographies

Andreas Keller, the author of The Philosophy of Olfactory Perception , is a New York-based academic with PhDs in neuroscience and philosophy who is interested in olfactory perception. Andreas completed a PhD in neuroscience under the supervision of Martin Heisenberg at the University of Wuerzburg in his native Germany. In 2002 he moved to New York where he studied human smell perception at the Rockefeller University and completed a PhD in philosophy at the CUNY Graduate Center. From 2020 to 2025 he curated exhibition of scentart at Olfactory Art Keller, his gallery in Chinatown.

Pablo Meyer Royas is manager of the Biological Analytics and Modeling group at the IBM Research and also Vice-Chair of DREAM challenges. He joined IBM research in 2010 and received his Undergraduate degree in Physics from the University of Mexico UNAM (2000) and a Masters degree from the University of Paris VII/XI his Ph.D. in Genetics from the Rockefeller University (2005). He is overall interested in how events at the molecular level, gene circuits and DNA LLMs determine mesoscopic or higher order phenomena from enzymatic reactions to circadian behaviors in flies, influences on apoptosis, diseases and prediction of olfactory responses from molecular structures. He has been actively involved in DREAM Challenges since 2010 and has led challenges addressing critical questions in systems biology such as parameter estimation in gene networks and across multiple biomedical fields.

Sean Raspet is an artist who has been working with scent and molecular structure for over 10 years. He was the first artist to design new olfactory molecules as an art form, starting with Siladroxyllal-014, a sila-substituted analog of hydroxycitronellal he designed in 2013. Since then he has created numerous new scent molecules as artworks and commercial products. He is the co-founder of Patina (patina.earth), a start up working on designing new scent molecules and on mapping the human olfactory system, to expand the realm of possible scents. His practice merges art with the realms of commercial products and new technologies. In addition to his olfactory works, other works have consisted of liquid chemical formulations, food, nutrition, human metabolism, and human cellular development via stem cells. More recently his work has involved plant genetics and the breeding of new varieties through randomly-induced mutation.

M Dougherty (they/them) is a nonbinary scent artist, researcher, and creative technologist whose practice is built on a conviction that olfactory literacy is a trainable skill, and that everyone deserves access to it. Their work spans installation, technology, performance, and research, most notably the Odor Organ, an ever-evolving piano-based diffusion instrument for exploring scent, exhibited across the US including at Craft Contemporary in Los Angeles. They have contributed to olfactory research at Rockefeller University and the Monell Chemical Senses Center, co-authored a 2026 preprint on SMELL-RS, a self-administered digital smell test, and apprentice in perfumery at Mythologist Studio. They speak, teach, and write globally, including through their Substack, Scent Made Digital. A 2024 Innovation Award recipient from NYC Media Lab and CHANEL.