KT, Amorepacific launch AI platform to speed up cosmetics R&D

Employees at Amorepacific's R&I Center demonstrate artificial intelligence assistant LEMON during its launch event, Tuesday. Courtesy of KT

KT and Amorepacific have launched an artificial intelligence (AI) platform designed to turn more than 70 years of beauty research into searchable data, a move the companies say could dramatically shorten the time needed to develop new products.

KT said Tuesday that it completed the Data Highway project, which integrated and redesigned data across Amorepacific's entire R&I Center to create an AI-focused research platform.

The project began after KT won the contract in December and entered a strategic partnership with Amorepacific to modernize the company's research and development data.

At the heart of the initiative is the conversion of millions of research and development records accumulated over more than seven decades into what the companies call AI Ready Data.

KT said the structured data allows AI to understand and analyze research information without additional processing.

The companies also introduced an AI assistant called LEMON, short for Lab Efficiency Mode ON, to help researchers search and analyze research data using natural language.

Researchers can ask questions about ingredients, formulations, experimental results and research reports and receive integrated answers drawn from multiple sources.

KT said tasks that once required researchers to search through multiple systems over several days, or even weeks, can now be completed in about five minutes with the AI assistant.

The platform standardizes both structured and unstructured data that had previously been scattered across the research organization and reorganizes it into a unified system.

KT said the platform is designed not only for LEMON but also as a shared data foundation for future AI services and AI agents at Amorepacific.

The companies said they plan to continue expanding AI Ready Data and broaden the use of AI technologies across research and development.

This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.