L'Oréal Deploys 3D Generative AI Studio
L'Oréal has rolled out a 3D generative AI virtual photo and video studio to create product imagery for its brands. The technology, developed with French tech firm Omi, is designed to accelerate content production, enable virtual try-on, and allow for scalable personalization across digital platforms.
- The technology from Omi creates "ultra-realistic digital twins" of physical products in 3D, capturing fine details like reflections and textures to generate pixel-perfect visuals in under two minutes. This 3D approach distinguishes it from more common 2D AI image generation tools by placing product models into dynamic environments with realistic lighting and shadows. - L'Oréal is integrating this AI studio into its broader "GenAI Beauty Content Lab," known as Creaitech. This internal lab is designed to augment the creativity of its marketing teams and already utilizes other AI tools from partners like Google and Adobe to generate on-brand images, text, and videos. - The workflow demonstrated at the VivaTech conference in Paris involved a multi-step process: background image generation via Adobe Firefly, 3D product integration using Omi's technology, and subsequent image-to-video conversion with Google's Veo model. - Omi, founded in 2020 by former Meta executive Hugo Borensztein and his brother Paul Borensztein, already serves over 700 business clients, including notable brands like Nestlé, Clarins, and Meta itself. The company recently secured €13 million in a Series A funding round led by British tech fund Dawn Capital to accelerate its international expansion, particularly in Europe and the U.S. - This initiative is part of a larger push by L'Oréal into "Beauty Tech," which includes a recent partnership with Nvidia to scale its AI capabilities and a €350 million investment to create a global Beauty Tech Hub in Hyderabad, India. - While embracing AI for product and environmental visuals, L'Oréal has established a policy against using AI to generate images of people or "lifelike" faces, skin, or hair for its external marketing to enhance product benefits. - The broader generative AI in fashion and beauty market is projected to grow significantly, with one forecast predicting it will reach $2.23 billion by 2032. This growth is driven by the technology's potential to add between $150 billion and $275 billion in operating profits to the apparel, fashion, and luxury sectors within three to five years. - The adoption of virtual try-on (VTO) and other AI-powered personalization tools has been shown to increase purchase likelihood by 2.4 times and can boost conversion rates for beauty brands by up to 90%.
