“We have always considered our business model was to bring to market products that are state of the art, charge a bit more, and globalize,” Hieronimus told me. But in the AI era, the “state of the art” bit has taken more of a front seat than ever at the company, which now invests over €1.3 billion per year in research, and even more in technology.
The real driver of L’Oréal’s innovation, Hieronimus stressed, is technology. “Technology is an augmentor upstream for research but also downstream for the consumer,” he said. Upstream, AI now allows the company to scan hundreds of new molecules per year, whereas in the past it took months to do one.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity,” he said. “Our labs are powered by AI. It is an advantage. We have 16 terabytes of proprietary data on beauty. We use AI in research to scan new molecules, using digital twins.”
