Do you think your organization needs a Chief AI Officer?
I believe AI technology will be very much anchored in daily routines, and everyone will work with it, so is it everyone’s responsibility? Certainly! Do we need to have someone who leads it? Maybe; I don't know yet. We'll see where we go in time, what changes take place, and when we have learned more inside the organization.
What are the cultural changes required to be leading in AI in your industry?
There has to be a different level of training to create a different level of freedom for people to use the technology. This goes with very frequent training on new features that AI constantly develops because it's a system that builds on the new, and every new input changes the technology.
So, I believe that more frequent training will be required for the teams. Cultural changes could be intercompany cultural changes.
How disruptive do you expect AI to become in the consumer goods and the retail industry and how much disruption do you expect for your own leadership role?
I'm convinced AI is going to be totally disruptive from here on. AI will certainly hit all types of processes inside companies.
For many years, we have integrated AI into our work. For example, when you shop for a product online, there's an algorithm devised by a certain type of AI behind it. That creates a whole new set of usage possibilities.
How do you personally embrace AI and prepare for the AI future?
My biggest focus at the moment is to be curious about what technology is out there. I try to read a lot; I try to train myself a lot; and I also interact with our internal generative AI task force to keep up to date with recent developments in technology.
Do you think AI is rather an opportunity or a risk for the consumer goods and retail businesses and why?
Every new thing comes with the chance to explore new ways of working and new ways of usage. We don't know yet where AI is going to lead us and what we can change with AI, but everything new also disrupts and therefore can create risks. This is where a responsible use of AI is going to be very important.
What are the key factors for your organization to get prepared for AI-related changes?
We believe it´s important to create either one’s own AI systems or to create closed loops to train as many people as possible.
Before we go into very broad usage in the organization, the way L´Oréal is operating today is through a generative AI task force on a global level. This is a task force comprising experts who really understand what´s going on technology-wise in the market today and how it can be usefully used by our teams.
Once the screening phase is over, we will see different types of organizational setups come into place.
