L'Oréal's chief innovation and prospective officer Delphine Viguier-Hovasse says artificial intelligence benefits established companies with decades of accumulated data more than it levels the playing field for startups. She notes that while AI makes it easier to create new beauty brands, many disappear within two years, whereas L'Oréal's 120-year history and massive proprietary datasets give it a dramatic advantage. The company reinvests 3% of turnover into research, amounting to €1.3 billion in 2025, and uses AI to slash molecule testing time from years to three months, enabling faster, cheaper experimentation. L'Oréal has built databases including a global atlas of skin color and wrinkles, and last year ran 40,000 stability tests and 44,000 consumer reaction tests, scale that Viguier-Hovasse says is unmanageable without AI. She emphasizes that innovation relies on a matrix organization, cross-functional collaboration, and a single KPI of gaining market share with new products, combined with early detection of weak signals like the longevity trend.
LOréal S.A.AI advantage from deep data and faster R&D, cutting molecule testing from years to three months.