Big Beauty Brands Embrace AI Skin Analysis

From FaceApp to TikTok’s “Aged” filter, it’s clear that people are obsessed with using AI to peer at their older selves.

Now, beauty brands are trying to inject some actual science into the technology and turn what was once a novelty into a serious business opportunity.

On Jan. 15, the AI company Haut.AI, which is backed by Ulta Beauty and is a member of Nvidia’s start-up programme, announced that Ulta Beauty, Clarins, Beiersdorf and Unilever are among the first adopters of its AI-powered skin analysis platform for businesses. Called SkinGPT, it analyses facial photos to predict future aging and recommend products to counteract it. Haut.AI also launched its consumer-facing platform Generative Skin, which allows consumers to upload their photos for skincare product advice and photos simulating future results.

While AI skin analysis is nothing new, it’s seen renewed interest as brands seek out ways to tap into AI mania and make use of recent progress in the field. The SkinGPT launch comes after an AI-centred CES in early January featured multiple AI skin analysis launches from companies including L’Oréal and Amorepacific.

“We’re going from filters to making photorealistic simulations,” said Anastasia Georgievskayaa, founder and chief executive of Haut.AI, of the new features.

Staring Aging in the Face

The technology to look at an aging version of oneself via AI first grabbed attention in 2019 when photo and video-editing app FaceApp went viral with its old-age filter. While it sparked concerns about the safety of consumer data in the US, users’ fascination with looking at their older selves was undeniable – the app received over 150 million downloads at the time.

But Georgievskaya said that today’s skin analysis AI is different from social-media filters, which create a “mask” that gives every user the “same pattern of wrinkles.” The data used for the AI algorithm is based on real before-and-after results photos provided by brands and research organisations from clinical trials, according to Georgievskaya, who added that simulations could be created with 30 different sets of before-and-after photos. She said the platform bases its AI analysis of the skin conditions visible in the photos and consequent recommendations of product ingredients on peer-reviewed research, and cites specific studies in the results.

Clarins is using the platform for R&D to analyse the results of products on certain skin conditions. Beiersdorf is looking into integrating the new platform into its existing AI facial analysis tool Skinly, while Unilever’s Pond’s will be utilizing SkinGPT for an AI skin analysis tool it launched in Southeast Asia. Ulta Beauty, which invests in Haut.AI through its Prisma Ventures VC fund, is also using the technology for R&D, said Michelle Pacynski, the vice president of digital innovation at Ulta Beauty.

Beauty Joins the AI Gold Rush

Just one week prior, beauty brands doubled down on AI launches at CES, where Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, gave the keynote address. Amorepacific unveiled an AI tool that offers product recommendations via chatbot after analyzing photos for skin tone, facial features and proportions. L’Oréal rolled out its BioPrint device, which uses AI to measure protein levels in the skin and estimate how effective certain ingredients like retinol will be.

“The combination of AI with hardware — physical objects — will be a real opportunity for beauty,” predicted Guive Balooch, L’Oréal’s global head of augmented beauty and open innovation.

The key for all of these new technologies will be getting users to adopt it. For L’Oréal, that will mean first making the offerings available through beauty counters.

Haut.AI, meanwhile, hopes to benefit from the virality potential of its technology as well as influencer marketing to get the word out about its platform. For AI skin analysis to really take off with consumers, however, companies will have to assure them that the data is accurate.

“The market is growing because people want more performance, but we have to convince them of that performance to be able to get them to change their routine,” said Balooch.