L’Oréal AI Strategy: One L’Oréal, Powered by AI

L’Oréal wants AI to augment people across the whole company, from the research lab to the beauty counter. It has trained more employees in AI than any other company in this index so far, and reports results in research, marketing and frontline sales. It publishes no AI value figure, and only one line on how AI is governed.

The ambition is “One L’Oréal, powered by AI.” Samuel du Retail, Group General Manager for AI, Data and Shared Services, set out that aim in the Spring/Summer 2026 letter to shareholders: AI that augments humans across consumers, business functions and employees.

AI is central to the CEO’s agenda. CEO Nicolas Hieronimus put “Tech and AI” first among L’Oréal’s 2025 investments and said they “are increasingly turbocharging everything we do” (2025 annual report).

L’Oréal names the industry shift. It wants its brands to be the reference source of beauty knowledge for large language models, according to its February 2026 results presentation.

The focus covers the full value chain (Beauty Tech acceleration with AI):

• research: AI-led formulation science and molecular simulation
• marketing: CreAItech, an in-house generative AI content lab, and BETiQ for media spend
• consumers: diagnostics and advisors such as Beauty Genius
• employees: L’Oréal GPT and personal AI “companions”

L’Oréal has not said what it will not prioritize.

The investment is large. L’Oréal invested about €1.5 billion in technology in 2025. No separate AI figure has been disclosed.

Partners each have a job:

• Nvidia: its AI platform runs across the business and CreAItech, and since March 2026 it supports a predictive engine for molecules (Happi).
• IBM: a Formulation Foundation Model trained on more than 1.8 million formulas.
• OpenAI: a June 2026 partnership that brings Maybelline’s virtual try-on into ChatGPT and gives L’Oréal access to a life sciences reasoning model (Digiday).
• Google and Adobe: models and tools inside CreAItech.

Data is the moat. L’Oréal describes the “world’s richest beauty database,” with millions of data points on skin, hair, formulas and consumer trends.

Enablement is the broadest in the index. 73,000 employees have taken the “Generative AI for All” training, which now reaches plants, distribution centers and points of sale. More than 60,000 employees use L’Oréal GPT, a secure internal tool, and employees have built more than 22,000 personal AI “companions.”

Ownership is spread across named leaders. Samuel du Retail leads AI, data and shared services. Barbara Lavernos, Deputy CEO, runs research, innovation and technology. Asmita Dubey, Chief Digital and Marketing Officer, leads consumer-facing AI.

The workforce message is augmentation. Dubey says AI “augments creativity.” L’Oréal has 8,000 digital, tech and data specialists and 4,000 scientists, and has not linked job cuts to AI.

Governance is stated in one line. L’Oréal says it operates “using principles for trustworthy AI,” grounded in reliability, fairness and protection of personal data (2025 ethics report), and its training covers responsible use. No AI governance body or review process has been published.

AI fluency, coded against the Lead with AI Fluency Matrix (September 2026 edition):

• Fluency floor: Not declared as a requirement. In practice, training has reached about 73,000 of more than 90,000 employees, a working Level 1 (Chatting) baseline for most of the workforce.
• Highest level evidenced: Level 3 (Integrating), company-claimed. Beauty advisors working with AI agents give relevant answers three times faster and spend up to 80% less time on admin, marketing teams produce content through CreAItech with measured cost savings, and employees have built more than 22,000 AI companions. No autonomous agent results have been published, so Level 4 is not evidenced.
• Portfolio design: Multi-level, wide and deep. Training for all sits alongside L’Oréal GPT, personal companions and specialist labs. No role-specific targets have been disclosed.

L’Oréal reports results by use case. All figures below are company-claimed.

Research:

• Over four years, the number of molecules tested tripled and development time fell fourfold.
• Its predictive molecular engine makes discovery 100 times faster than traditional methods, L’Oréal says.

Marketing: CreAItech cut production costs by 40% and helped teams create 50,000 marketing assets, Hieronimus said on the full-year 2025 results call.

Frontline sales:

• Beauty advisors respond three times faster, with up to 80% less admin time.
• K-SCAN, an AI hair camera, lifted salon sales by an average of 23%.

Consumer tools: Beauty Tech services have been used more than 120 million times across 66 countries, and Beauty Genius has handled more than 1.1 million conversations in the US.

Two things are missing: a group AI value figure and dated AI targets.

Change log

• 2024: Work on CreAItech begins, and Beauty Genius launches.
• June 2025: L’Oréal and Nvidia announce an AI partnership.
• 2025: The IBM formulation model is announced, tech investment reaches about €1.5 billion, and L’Oréal files a record 725 patents.
• February 2026: Full-year results report 40% lower content production costs and an aim to be the reference source for AI assistants.
• March 2026: The Nvidia partnership expands into research.
• April 2026: L’Oréal begins testing ads in ChatGPT in the US.
• June 2026: The OpenAI partnership is announced.
• Spring 2026: 73,000 employees are trained, and more than 22,000 AI companions have been created.

• Disclosure: 4 of 4. L’Oréal answers all four questions. Governance is its thinnest answer.
• It has the broadest employee AI adoption in the index: 73,000 trained, 60,000 using its internal tool and 22,000 personal companions.
• AI runs across the full value chain, from molecules to marketing to the beauty counter.
• It is preparing for AI-led discovery by feeding product data to OpenAI and aiming to be the reference source for AI assistants.
• The say-do gap is governance and value. Trustworthy AI is a single line in the ethics report, and there is no group AI value figure.
• Watch whether 2026 results put a number on AI, and whether ChatGPT becomes a real sales channel.

What the numbers show: Revenue per employee has stayed between €438k and €458k for four years: revenue and headcount have grown at a similar pace, though the 2024 definition change blurs the comparison.

Revenue, headcount and revenue per employee, FY2022 to FY2025

• FY2022: €38.26bn revenue, 87,264 employees, €438k per employee
• FY2023: €41.18bn revenue, 90,293 employees, €456k per employee
• FY2024: €43.49bn revenue, 95,023 employees, €458k per employee
• FY2025: €44.05bn revenue, 97,583 employees, €451k per employee

Change from FY2024, the first comparable year, to FY2025: revenue up 1%, headcount up 3%, revenue per employee down 1%.

Notes: Revenue is sales, as reported. Headcount is group headcount at 31 December. In 2024, L’Oréal widened its headcount definition to include people on leave, interns and apprentices, so part of the 2023 to 2024 rise is definitional and the comparable trend starts in FY2024. The 2025 rise mainly reflects the Aesop integration. Trend figures stay in € so exchange-rate moves do not distort them. At the 2025 average exchange rate, latest revenue per employee is about $510k.

These figures give context on scale and productivity. They do not show that AI caused any change. Sources: L’Oréal annual results and Universal Registration Documents.

What is L’Oréal’s AI strategy?

L’Oréal’s aim is “One L’Oréal, powered by AI,” with AI augmenting people across research, marketing, consumer services and internal work. It invested about €1.5 billion in technology in 2025 and works with Nvidia, IBM, OpenAI, Google and Adobe.

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What is CreAItech?

CreAItech is L’Oréal’s in-house generative AI content lab, built with Nvidia, Google and Adobe. Brand teams use it to create on-brand images and video. L’Oréal says it cut content production costs by 40% and helped create 50,000 marketing assets.

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How many L’Oréal employees use AI?

L’Oréal says 73,000 employees have completed its “Generative AI for All” training, more than 60,000 use its internal L’Oréal GPT tool, and employees have created more than 22,000 personal AI companions.

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Does L’Oréal work with OpenAI?

Yes. In June 2026, L’Oréal announced a partnership with OpenAI that brings Maybelline’s virtual try-on into ChatGPT and gives L’Oréal access to a life sciences reasoning model. It has also tested ads in ChatGPT in the US since April 2026.

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How is this profile put together?

Lead with AI profiles use public sources only, such as annual reports, earnings materials, filings and on-record interviews, dated at the time of writing. AI fluency is coded against the Lead with AI Fluency Matrix. Company figures are marked as company-claimed unless they have been independently verified.