Who: L’Oreal’s La Roche-Posay.

What: Effaclar Spotscan, a new AI-based technology that can scan an individual’s face, analyze their acne and provide personalized treatment recommendations.

Why: La Roche-Posay says acne is a top skin concern for Canadians, but getting in to see a dermatologist isn’t easy: there’s only one for every 70,000 Canadians. La Roche-Posay sells acne treatments, but wants customers to feel like they are getting high-tech, personalized skincare assessments thanks to this AI tool. It’s the latest in a series of tech innovations for L’Oreal.

How: Users visit the SpotScan.com site, hold still for three facial snapshots and get a personal Effaclar skincare routine, complete with a “skin improvement simulator” that shows expected results.

But how does that work? An algorithm, of course. A lot of AI is still essentially brute force processing of large amounts of data really quickly. That seems to be the case here. La Roche-Posay had dermatologists analyze more than 6,000 images of men and women with different levels of acne. The personalized recommendations are created by scanning the customer’s face and then quickly comparing those images with the 6,000 subject faces, along with the dermatological analysis, to deliver the skincare regime for the customer.

Quote: “Today consumers want more than just great skincare from a brand, they want an experience. Service has become the new-age product. We know that information is power when it comes to skin health and to improve their skin, consumers need to understand it.” —Emma Kindler, general manager of La Roche-Posay Canada.