An AI Innovation Lab has been established by Microsoft and Estee Lauder to introduce GenAI to the cosmetics sector.

The lab enables both businesses to collaborate on developing AI solutions for the cosmetic brands owned by Estee Lauder.

Estee Lauder has already created an artificial intelligence chatbot for marketing purposes using Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI service.

Employees at Estee Lauder will use the chatbot internally to browse the business’s product and claim database and keep an eye on international beauty trends, the company announced.

Estee Lauder expressed anticipation that this will speed up the development of more customized local advertising campaigns for its cosmetic goods.

Apart from marketing, Estee Lauder stated that it was collaborating with Microsoft to build artificial intelligence (AI) technologies for product research and development that its scientists and product development team would utilize.

Chief data officer Jane Lauder said, “At [Estee Lauder], technology always supports our enduring strengths of high-quality products and high-touch consumer experiences.”

“With Microsoft’s GenAI tools and extensive expertise, we are able to leverage [Estee Lauder]’s tremendous data to create more personalised consumer experiences and faster insights to action resulting in increased speed to market and stronger local relevancy,” she added.

Estee Lauder and Microsoft first started working together in 2017. Since then, Estee Lauder has employed Azure AI in a virtual assistant app that was released in 2023.

According to Estee Lauder, the firms’ connection has deepened with the launch of its AI Innovation Lab.

According to Shelley Bransten, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s global industry solutions, “GenAI represents a significant opportunity for the beauty industry – creating more engaging customer experiences, getting products into consumers’ hands faster, developing new products more efficiently and sustainably, and much more.”

“We are proud to collaborate with The Estée Lauder Companies to provide not only a platform for AI innovation, but also deep partnership to bring these new innovations to life,” she added.

According to 40% of organizations from a range of industries who participated in a 2024 poll by research and analysis firm GlobalData, artificial intelligence has already had a substantial impact on their industry.

In response, 13% more said they thought AI would change their industry in the upcoming year.

According to GlobalData, the fastest-growing subset of AI will be generated by GenAI by 2024. Global GenAI revenues are expected to reach over $33 billion by 2027, indicating a compound annual growth rate of 80% from 2022.