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1. Oct 12
   Biotech reshapes perfume supply chains, but AI cannot fully replicate nature

   The perfume industry is turning to AI to predict molecular scents and to cell culture to produce rare ingredients, aiming to avoid repeated harvesting of endangered plants, according to a Guardian report covered by TechNews. Osmo, spun out of Google Brain and having raised US$130 million, trained its AI on more than 5 million human smell responses; founder Alex Wiltschko said the company recreated the scent of a rare tree from a finger-sized piece of bark. BioHarvest Sciences said it has established a stable cell culture for an endangered Southeast Asian fragrance plant and announced an agreement expected to yield 20 metric tons of fragrance compounds, with small-scale production as early as 2027. Critics push back: natural perfumer Mandy Aftel calls the conservation framing greenwashing, Rhian Smith of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew says AI-designed oud substitutes will not fully relieve pressure on wild plants, and Wiltschko himself acknowledges conservation is not an explicit priority for Osmo.

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