If you thought ChatGPT could only write texts, here’s the new twist that’s stirring the networks: In the last 24 hours, images of pizzas, desserts, coffee, and ice cream have been circulating online – all with a simple but intriguing request behind them: “Draw [Food] and use the smell effect.”
According to many users, the images generated in response to this request manage to create a brain sensation of smell, a kind of real sensory illusion, as if the food is right in front of them.
The principle is simple: The user asks ChatGPT (in the version that includes image creation) to draw, for example, a Neapolitan pizza, and adds the request, “Use the smell effect.” The images received show the food from a very close angle, sometimes with gentle steam or a blurred background designed to put the viewer in a certain mental state.
Although no real smell molecules are being transmitted, the psychological effect can be powerful. Studies suggest that the sense of smell is deeply connected to memory and emotion, and that images that trigger a tangible smell image can activate areas of the brain associated with processing smells.
The combination of accurate visual description, focus on details like warm steam or melting cheese, and words associated with smell – all these create an impressive brain illusion, explained a sensory researcher, claiming that it’s similar to a perfume ad that almost makes the brain “smell it.”
Users in Israel and around the world began sharing surprising outcomes of the feature: A cappuccino with a cloud of steam and a caramel touch in the air, a buttery croissant whose image “released a smell from the screen,” and a Neapolitan pizza that made users smell the steam of the hot cheese.
OpenAI has not officially announced the feature as smell-based technology, but it seems that the interface takes advantage of the visual capabilities of AI models to suggest to the brain what it should “smell” – and the brain, as usual, cooperates.
Is this an illusion or a new sensory revolution in brain imaging? Time will tell. In the meantime, the web is flooded with requests from users eager to test it themselves. Try it and let us know in the comments if you smelled anything!