L’Oréal collaborates with IBM to leverage the tech giant’s generative AI technology and expertise to analyse cosmetic formulation data. This collaboration will help L’Oréal facilitate the use of sustainable raw materials, reduce energy usage, and minimise material waste.

This effort will develop a custom AI foundation model engineered to increase the ability of L’Oréal Research and Innovation teams to achieve optimum performance in each cosmetic category. The formulation foundation model is believed to be first-of-its-kind in the industry, redefining AI innovation at the intersection of beauty, chemistry and technology. 

The collaboration combines L’Oréal’s expertise in cosmetic science with IBM’s AI technologies for scientific discoveries, to pave the way for a future where science and technology can inform and prioritise ecologically responsible and innovative solutions. To preserve Earth’s natural resources, it is critical to explore renewable, sustainably sourced raw materials when developing consumer products and this effort will help L’Oréal meet its L’Oréal for the Future’s target of sourcing most of its product formulas based on bio-sourced materials and the circular economy by 2030. 

“As part of our Digital Transformation Program, this partnership will extend the speed and scale of our innovation and reformulation pipeline, with products always reaching higher standards of inclusivity, sustainability, and personalisation”, says Stéphane Ortiz, Head of Innovation Métiers and Product Development – L’Oréal Research and Innovation.

“This collaboration is a truly impactful application of generative AI, leveraging the power of technology and expertise for the good of the planet”, adds Alessandro Curioni, IBM Fellow, Vice President Europe and Africa and Director IBM Research Zurich. “At IBM, we believe in the power of purpose-built, customised AI to help transform businesses. Using IBM’s latest AI technology, L’Oréal will be able to derive meaningful insights from their rich formula and product data to create a tailored AI model to help achieve their operational goals and continue creating high quality and sustainable products.”

The creation of this AI model will help L’Oréal accelerate the formulation of new products, reformulation of existing cosmetics and optimisation for scale-up production. In addition, IBM Consulting will support L’Oréal rethink and redesign the formulation discovery process. Understanding the behaviours of renewable ingredients in cosmetic formulas will help L’Oréal build more sustainable product lines with greater inclusivity and personalisation for its consumers. 

Foundation models are a type of AI model trained on a broad set of unlabelled data, capable of performing several tasks and applying information from one situation to another. These models have advanced the field of natural language processing technology and IBM is pioneering applications of foundation models beyond language, in areas such as chemistry, time series and geospatial modalities. 

IBM’s AI technology has the potential to augment L’Oréal’s creativity in finding new cosmetic formulations to transform the beauty industry. L’Oréal, together with IBM’s expertise and technology, will shape a future where innovation meets sustainability, delivering unique eco-friendly products. 

L’Oréal: Pioneering Beauty Through Innovation and Technology

For 115 years, L’Oréal has devoted itself to fulfilling the beauty aspirations of consumers around the world. With its portfolio of thirty-seven international brands and ambitious sustainability commitments in L’Oréal for the Future programme, in 2023 the Group generated sales amounting to 41.18 billion euros. 

With twenty research centers in eleven countries and a Research and Innovation team of over four thousand scientists, L’Oréal is focused on becoming a beauty tech powerhouse. One of its notable achievements is the Perso AI-powered device. 

This handheld device, developed by Loreal Technology Incubator, delivers personalised on-the-spot skincare and cosmetic formulas. By harnessing Artificial Intelligence, the level of personalisation is optimised as the system gathers more data about their customer’s skin and personal preferences. “We are committed to making L’Oréal the leader in Beauty Tech — and Perso is the next step in that exciting journey”, said Deputy Chief Executive Officer Nicolas Hieronimus.

The company has made significant strides in virtual and augmented reality technology to transform the retail experience. Through its ModiFace platform, acquired in 2018, L’Oréal introduced virtual try-on solutions that allow users to test makeup and hair colour virtually. For instance, shoppers can see how a lipstick shade or eyeshadow will look on their face in real time, significantly reducing the guesswork and boosting customer satisfaction in e-commerce.

ModiFace provides its AI-powered technology to enable virtual try-ons for cosmetics on Amazon. With this innovation, Amazon customers will be able to use the front-facing camera on their mobile phone to digitally try on different shades of lipstick in a live video of themselves or on a selfie. The uniqueness of the ModiFace technology lies in its photo-realistic results and automatic, AI-enabled shade calibration.

Loreal has also utilised 3D printing to create synthetic skin for product testing, reducing the need for animal testing. In collaboration with the University of Oregon, scientists at Loreal have developed an artificial skin model that resembles natural human skin. They used a bioprinting method, a form of 3D printing that enables rapid, precise construction of skin-like structures. This innovation will soon make it possible to build personalised skin models which can be used by other fields such as pharmaceutical or medical research.

About IBM 

IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise, helping clients in more than a hundred and seventy-five countries capitalise on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. A publicly traded company and one of 30 companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, IBM is consistently ranked among the world’s most recognisable, valuable, and admired brands.

IBM third-quarter results demonstrate accelerated software revenue growth, expanded gross profit margin, and strong free cash flow. “Our third-quarter performance was led by double-digit growth in Software, including a re-acceleration in Red Hat. We continue to see great momentum in AI as our models are trusted, fit-for-purpose, and lower cost, with performance leadership. Our generative AI book of business now stands at more than $3 billion, up more than $1 billion quarter to quarter,” said Arvind Krishna, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer in a company release. “Heading into the final quarter of 2024, we expect fourth-quarter constant currency revenue growth to be consistent with the third quarter, with continued strength in Software.”

More than four thousand government and corporate entities in infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to their clients — backed by IBM’s commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.