L'Oreal's Generative AI Lab Driving Content and R&D Personalization
L'Oréal is making significant strides in the beauty tech space, recently highlighting several initiatives across R&D and consumer products.
Two of its investments are using generative AI technology to advance personalization and innovation within the beauty category.
Generative AI Initiatives
The company has been quietly leveraging a generative AI-powered Beauty Content Lab, CREAITECH, over the last eight months.
Tapping into large language models, diffusion models, and partner technology, the lab has functioned as a testing ground for more than 20 projects, along with a workshop zone that's led to the creation of 1,000 beauty images.
[Getting Started: L'Oréal Preps for the Future With Metaverse Incubator and AI- and Data-Powered Beauty Science]
The company also plans to use this space to lean on AI for generating brand-compliant content across 37 brands, with Roche-Posay and Kérastase already using the service.
Asmita Dubey, chief digital and marketing officer for L'Oréal Group, said the lab will allow the company to train generative AI to recognize the unique visual codes of its brands to launch innovative campaigns faster.
“Importantly, we can do so without compromising our principles of responsible AI, which include not using AI-generated lifelike images of the face, body, hair, and skin to support or enhance product benefits in our external communication,” added Dubey.
The lab will also function as an upskilling and innovation resource for L'Oréal, partnering with Meta and 30 influential content creators to “push the boundaries of creativity” to explore use cases in 3D, AR, and AI. Brands L'Oréal Paris, Lancôme, and La Roche-Posay have been taking the lead in applying the resulting tools and techniques.
- Also read: Why L’Oreal Finally Brought Luxury to Amazon
Also on the generative AI front, L'Oréal Paris launched a personal beauty assistant earlier this year that provides personalized diagnostics and product recommendations, along with beauty education.
"Having pioneered beauty tech for years, we are firm believers that technology can push the boundaries of what's possible for beauty to improve the lives of people around the world. With advanced diagnostics, augmented beauty services, genAI assistants, augmented creativity in the genAI era, and breakthrough electronic devices, we are shaping the beauty of the future to be more personalized, more inclusive, and more responsible.” — Barbara Lavernos, Deputy CEO of Research, Innovation, and Technology, L'Oréal Groupe.
More Tech-Powered Beauty
The company also provided details for an assortment of consumer-facing products that are using leading-edge technologies. Among them are:
- Kiehl's Derma-Reader: Evaluates consumers' skin with clinical imaging tech, analyzing more than 11 skin attributes (both on and below the skin’s surface). The tool then provides recommended ingredients and lifestyle best practices for a daily skincare routine.
- Lancôme Renergie Nano-Surfacer: This device is said to boost product performance by increasing penetration using patented nanochip technology.
- L'Oréal Professionnel AirLight Pro: A hair dryer that uses infrared light and high-speed wind settings to more efficiently dry hair.
- L'Oréal Professionnel My Hair [iD] Hair Reader: A hair color analyzer that looks at natural color and color on lengths, gray percentage, hair fiber diameter, and density to offer consumers a personalized hair color.
The company also revealed new inclusive skin technology — developed through biology, mechanics, and electronics — that can mimic human skin in a variety of conditions, such as eczema and acne, and has the ability to tan and heal. The new technology looks to raise product testing standards and create advanced models for biological and dermatological research.
