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L’Oreal developing sustainable cosmetics generative AI model with IBM

L'Oreal is developing an AI model with IBM.

The world’s largest cosmetics company is teaming up with a tech giant to apply leading-edge artificial intelligence to sustainability.

In a new collaboration, L’Oreal will leverage IBM generative AI technology to develop a custom AI foundation model engineered to help it discover renewable, sustainably sourced raw materials when developing consumer beauty and cosmetics products.

Specifically, the AI model is expected to help L’Oreal accelerate performance of tasks including the formulation of new products, reformulation of existing cosmetics and optimization for scale-up production with energy and material waste reductions.

The effort is expected to contribute to the cosmetics company’s “L'Oréal for the Future” target of sourcing most of its product formulas based on bio-sourced materials and/or the circular economy by 2030. 

In addition, IBM’s consulting division will support L'Oréal in understanding the behaviors of renewable ingredients in cosmetic formulas to create more sustainable, inclusive and personalized product lines.

[READ MORE: L’Oreal develops personalized skin analysis technology]

"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 personalization,” said Stéphane Ortiz, head of innovation métiers & product development, L'Oréal research & innovation.

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Foundation models are a type of AI model trained on a broad set of unlabeled data, capable of performing various tasks and applying information from one situation to another, utilizing natural language processing (NLP) technology.

"This collaboration is a truly impactful application of generative AI, leveraging the power of technology and expertise for the good of the planet", said Alessandro Curioni, IBM Fellow, VP Europe and Africa and director IBM Research Zurich. "At IBM, we believe in the power of purpose-built, customized 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 AI model is also being designed to help L’Oreal enhance performance and consumer satisfaction in every cosmetic category across its global markets. The company says it believes this formulation foundation model will be a first-of-its-kind in the industry.

Headquartered in Paris, L'Oreal operates a portfolio of 37 international brands.

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