Need to Know

UK – London-based fragrance brand Jouissance is launching a trio of scents inspired by erotic literature.

La Bague D’O is a sensual re-imagining of Pauline Réage’s Story of O, intended to conjure images of a ‘bruise-coloured bouquet’. En Plein Air takes inspiration from the work of art critic and erotic memoirist Catherine M Bright, opening with ‘a clean airiness of an intellectual life’ before giving away to the ‘grassy dirtiness of amorous alfresco exploits’. Finally, Les Cahiers Secrets is based on the sensory writing of diarist Anaïs Nin – warm, nostalgic and sensual, the scent imagines a ‘well-travelled writers’ den’. The collection will be available this month.

Jouissance will also function as a community platform for women to explore perfume and art, and support up-and-coming female artists, such as Katrien De Blauwer, who has designed three limited-edition collages inspired by each scent. In our Synaesthesia Scents report, we explored how scent is being elevated from an aesthetic pleasure to a multi-dimensional consumer experience. Jouissance translates provocative works of literature into an olfactory experience, appealing to both literature lovers and fans of experimental fragrance.

Global – Artificial intelligence, including generative models such as ChatGPT, along with data centres and cryptocurrencies, are projected to significantly increase electricity consumption globally. A study by the International Energy Agency indicates that energy usage by these sectors will double by 2026.

While a single Google search uses about 0.3 watt-hours of electricity, a ChatGPT query consumes roughly 2.9 watt-hours. With approximately nine billion searches daily, this equates to nearly 10 terawatt-hours annually. At that pace, researchers predicts that by 2026, generative AI models will use at least 10 times more energy than in 2023. 

The increasing amount of energy needed to power up AI highlights the urgency for efficient solutions. Data centres require advanced cooling systems to prevent overheating, causing up to 40% of total energy consumption in a data centre to come from cooling management.

This underscores the need for sustainable practices in AI deployment and thoughtful use of the technology, a challenge we raised in The Future of Responsible AI.