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Beauty conglomerate Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) and Microsoft are announcing a new collaboration, building on their existing strategic relationship. The two companies have launched the AI Innovation Lab, a virtual program in which Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI service will help develop ways for ELC’s portfolio of more than 20 brands to leverage generative AI.

“Generative AI represents a significant opportunity for the beauty industry — creating more engaging customer experiences, getting products into the hands of consumers faster, developing new products more efficiently and sustainably, and much more,” Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President, Global Industry Solutions Shelly Bransten says in a statement.”

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 for Secure and Scalable Generative AI

Two areas of focus

One area where ELC and Microsoft want to use gen AI involves finding new ways to respond faster to social trends and consumer demands. The two companies have developed an internal chatbot using Azure OpenAI Services to help teams navigate and leverage ELC’s product database and claim data. In doing so, ELC’s brands can launch locally relevant campaigns faster than before. Such a tool likely streamlines the effort needed to execute a marketing campaign. Now, teams only need to type in their query to pull up information from what counterparts in other regions have done and then replicate it.

Another area is accelerating product innovation. ELC said its research and development teams are using gen AI to better and faster understand emerging product and ingredient trends. Instead of scouring through literature, scientists can run a query within Microsoft’s software to identify possible solutions they should develop and bring to market.