The Anemoia Device: A Tangible AI System for the Co-creation of Synthetic Memories through Scent

Cyrus Clarke, Jianing Yu, Melo Chen, Yuen Zou, Hiroshi Ishii

Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 38 Creative AI (NeurIPS 2025) Creative AI

We present the Anemoia Device, a synthetic memory generator that uses generative AI to provoke nostalgia for a time you have never experienced. The system transforms an archival photograph into a multi-sensory artifact through a novel synthesis of vision, language, and olfactory technologies. This multi-modal pipeline uses a tangible, dial-based interface to guide an LLM in performing a cross-modal, semantic-to-olfactory translation. The work is an inquiry into memory malleability in an age of AI, proposing an alternative to conventional screen-based interaction through an intentional, embodied ritual that positions the user as an active co-author, rather than a passive consumer.