L'Oréal, IBM To Build First AI Model To Advance Creation Of Sustainable Cosmetics

Cosmetics companies are increasingly embracing technological solutions to generate innovative products that are revolutionising the industry. The intent is to minimize their environmental impact and meet the growing demand for sustainable products.

And doing exactly that are technology innovator IBM and beauty company L'Oréal. They have announced their collaboration to leverage the tech giant's generative artificial intelligence expertise to uncover new insights in cosmetic formulation data. The technology aims to facilitate L'Oréal's use of sustainable raw materials and reduce waste of energy and materials.

IBM will help develop a custom AI foundation model at the intersection of beauty, chemistry and technology. The model will be designed to increase the ability of L'Oréal research and innovation teams to improve performance and consumer satisfaction in various cosmetic categories and regions of the world. 

To preserve Earth's natural resources, it is critical to explore renewable, sustainably sourced raw materials when developing consumer products. The collaboration will help L'Oréal meet its target of sourcing most of its product formulas based on bio-sourced materials and/or the circular economy by 2030. 

“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 and product development, L'Oréal Research & Innovation.

Foundation models are a type of AI model trained on a broad set of unlabelled data, capable of performing various tasks and applying information from one situation to another. These models have significantly advanced the field of natural language processing technology over the past several years.

The creation of this AI model will use formulations and component data points to accelerate tasks to be performed by L'Oréal. These include the formulation of new products, reformulation of existing cosmetics, and optimisation to scale-up production.

In addition, IBM Consulting will support L'Oréal in its aim to 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. 

“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, vice president Europe and Africa and director IBM Research Zurich. “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.”