The Estée Lauder Companies and Microsoft further their partnership with the AI Innovation Lab

The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) and Microsoft recently announced their collaboration on an AI Innovation Lab as the next step in their strategic partnership. The creation of the Lab will enable both companies to work on solutions that will empower ELC's over 20 prestige beauty brands to create closer consumer connections and accelerate time-to-market without sacrificing local relevance. The AI Innovation Lab leverages Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service's cutting-edge generative capabilities and places both companies as leaders in reimagining the beauty industry using generative AI.

Two major developments leveraging the AI Innovation Lab are the creation of an internal-facing chatbot to boost marketing effectiveness and acceleration of product development. The chatbot's unparalleled access to ELC's proprietary and extensive product and claim data database and its advanced conversational capabilities empower brands to create and launch locally relevant campaigns faster. ELC also looks to accelerate product development by applying generative AI to Research & Development processes, thus enabling scientists and specialists to prepare timely responses to product and ingredient trends.

The strategic partnership between ELC and Microsoft started in 2017. Since then, ELC developed its Voice-Enabled Makeup Assistant (VMA) on top of Azure AI. The one-of-its-kind app simplifies the makeup application process for visually impaired users. The app is available on Android and iOS for English-speaking users within the US, UK, and Ireland, with additional countries and languages upcoming.