Empowering the Beauty Industry With AI and AR Tools
Wayne Liu, chief growth officer and Americas president at Perfect Corp., discussed the hottest topic in beauty: the role of artificial intelligence in the industry, during a presentation at WWD’s L.A. Beauty Forum.
After nearly a decade since its inception and two years since its IPO, Perfect Corp. has worked with more than 650 brands in the beauty space. The software company has continued to home in on its AI and augmented reality tech designed specifically for the beauty industry in categories of makeup, skin care, nails, hair and more.
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“During this technology adoption, what we see is how the brand achieves something,” Liu said. “AI will transform the beauty industry because the beauty industry makes personalization a high priority.”
Liu said that customers are the primary driving force in the expansion of AI and that convincing them to try new tools is not a major hurdle. Moreover, he said that 40 percent of consumers agree that “AI will be very beneficial.” Nearly half of brands’ consumers (49 percent) have “heard of AI and helps them to shop” and 62 percent of U.S. beauty shoppers are interested in its personalized features.
While AI will only become more important as the technology improves, Liu noted that the rapid pace and expansion of AI’s evolution is a major stress issue. He cautioned brands against using only their own data as a self-fulfilling prophecy by emphasizing the need to look at brands’ competitors and gather data on the industry as a whole.
Perfect Corp.’s vision for AI is to empower not only brands but its customers. “By putting the tools into the hands of the consumer, they will start to redefine what beauty is,” Liu said. “People will define their own beauty, using a brand’s product.”
Perfect Corp.’s virtual try-ons have become one of its hallmark software products with more than 700,000 stock keeping units of digital colors in its library. Its AI tool helps to detect 90,000 skin tones when looking at foundations and makeup products. “As long as the human eye can identify, we can detect it,” Liu said.
Meanwhile, the company’s skin analysis tool scan from the user’s phone camera takes five seconds — “Generation Z’s attention span is eight seconds. Generation Alpha’s attention span is five seconds. If the response time is longer than five seconds, they are gone,” Liu noted.
The tool can identify 14 different concerns from wrinkles to eye bags within five seconds and then works with brands to recommend products and a routine.
Liu said that growth in AI use is ever-growing and shared that just recently, Perfect Corp. announced a hair care analysis tool. While the company is not looking to use AI as a replacement for business analysis or customer service, it is working side-by-side with brands to help increase productivity.
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