By Elissaveta M Brandon 

MIT Media Lab has developed a prototype that uses generative AI to interpret and distill the contents of a photograph into a fragrance.

The Anemoia Device, referred to as "scent-memory machine" according to MIT, consists of three parts arranged vertically: users place an analogue photograph in the top section.

An AI-powered computer, located in the middle, analyses the image and allows the users to craft a prompt using three dials. Then, the machine produces a custom scent from a set of pumps connected to fragrance reservoirs at the bottom.

"The whole pipeline is built around a metaphor of distillation where you take a dense, layered memory artefact and transform it and compress it into something," said Cyrus Clarke, the MIT researcher who developed the machine.

With the Anemoia Device, Clarke is taking an interest in a particular branch of nostalgia called "anemoia," which can be described as nostalgia for a time you've never experienced.

The Anemoia Device can supposedly turn any photographic memory into a scent, but Clarke was particularly interested in unlived memories.