Artificial Intelligence’s New Frontier: Digitising Dogs’ Noses
Australian Financial Review
ENRICHED
Details
- Date Published
- 26 July 2026
- Priority Score
- 1
- Australian
- Yes
- Created
- 26 July 2026, 02:01 am
Description
Agscent’s smell technology is already boosting productivity for dairy farms. But its backers are targeting advances in health, industry and law enforcement.
Summary
This article examines Agscent, an Australian startup developing sensor technology to digitize the olfactory capabilities of dogs using AI. While the current application focuses on agricultural productivity, such as determining pregnancy in cattle via breath analysis, the technology suggests broader implications for law enforcement and health diagnostics. The capability to automate highly sensitive detection tasks represents a niche advancement in AI sensing, though it does not directly engage with existential risk or frontier safety frameworks. Its primarily industrial focus makes it a significant example of Australian AI application without high-level catastrophic risk relevance.
Body
Greg BearupSenior writerJul 26, 2026 – 10.21amFirst it came for the jobs of humans, and now it’s targeting our best mates – artificial intelligence is nosing in on the once secure turf of canines, the airport sniffers, the truffle-hunters and the cadaver dogs.The digitising of dogs’ noses – teaching AI to smell – is the new frontier in technology’s relentless conquest and an Australian company that can detect a pregnant cow by sniffing its breath is at the forefront of the charge.Loading...SaveLog in or Subscribe to save articleShareCopy linkCopiedEmailLinkedInTwitterFacebookCopy linkCopiedShare via...Gift this articleSubscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? LoginLicense articleRead MoreAIThe AI DividendAgricultureGreg BearupSenior writerGreg Bearup is a senior writer for The Australian Financial Review. Send encrypted tips to gregbearup_1234.09 on messaging platform Signal. Email Greg at greg.bearup@afr.comFetching latest articles