This hyper-smelling AI can sniff out counterfeit sneakers—and that’s only the beginning

“I want a tricorder,” Alex Wiltschko tells me on a Zoom call. Wiltschko, the founder of the AI company Osmo, is referring to the handheld device used by the Enterprise’s crew in its exploration across the universe. In Stark Trek, the tricorder can tell crew members everything they need to know about an object simply by holding it nearby. One could say that Wiltschko and his team have created an alpha version of the fantasy device. His team has developed a backpack-sized machine...