Cosmetic chemistry and AI: Element 44 on “enhancing, not replacing” expertise

24 Sep 2024 --- AI is revolutionizing the personal care industry, raising questions about its potential impact on cosmetic chemists and formulations. Personal Care Insights speaks with Perry Romanowski, chair of Education at the International Federation of Societies of Cosmetic Chemists (IFSCC) and vice president of cosmetic science and education provider Element 44, ahead of his November presentation at In-cosmetics Asia in Bangkok, Thailand. “The Future of Beauty: How AI Will Affect Cosmetic Chemists and Formulation.”

He will address how AI is leveraged to optimize formulations, streamline product development and drive innovation, while also raising ethical concerns surrounding intellectual property in the era of AI-driven solutions.

Romanowski believes “AI can help cosmetic chemists in a number of ways. These include coming up with starting formulas, designing tests for quality control and substantiating cosmetic claims. AI can also help with generating new ideas for products and even product claims.”

He adds that chatbots and other AI tools can also assist in data analysis for troubleshooting, while AI can assist in staying current with research by rapidly summarizing technical papers.

“The primary ways that AI is being used in the formulation are for creating starting formulas and for optimizing existing formulas for cost reductions or improved performance,” says Romanowski.

“AI will pPerry Romanowski, chair of Education at IFSCC and vice president of cosmetic science and education provider Element 44.rimarily be used as a tool to enhance the work of a chemist. Ultimately, you still need someone to mix the ingredients together in a beaker to make a formula. AI can help with idea generation and formulation creation, but we will still require chemists to actually make the formulas and observe whether they are suitably functional or not.”

Formulation limitations

According to Romanowski, AI-driven formulation should speed up the development of new formulas. “However, there is also a limit as AI cannot yet predict whether formulas will be stable or not just based on the ingredients.”

“Chemists will still need to make the formulas themselves and put them up on stability tests. I think this will help chemists be able to make many more prototypes over a short amount of time, which should speed things up. Ultimately, products must be tested so that will limit the real speed at which formulations can be developed to bring them to market.”

Regarding ethical issues with AI, Romanowski notes that it is challenging to own your formulations and intellectual property in the industry. “AI will make this even more difficult as it will be able to analyze ingredient lists and develop reasonable guesses at a competitor’s formula. Soon, we may be in a situation where any company can duplicate any other company’s formulas just by using AI. Whether that is ethical or not will have to be worked out, as currently there are no rules against it.”

Global beauty trends research shows that the cosmetic industry is using AI tools to enhance their products. Consumer demand for higher efficiency and personalization has led to the emergence of AI and machine learning in cosmetics innovation.

By Venya Patel