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⛓️🧠 Multinationals turn to generative AI to manage supply chains
Navneet Kapoor, chief technology officer at Maersk, said “things have changed dramatically over the past year with the advent of generative AI”, which can be used to build chatbots and other software that generates responses to human prompts.
New supply chain laws in countries such as Germany, which require companies to monitor environmental and human rights issues in their supply chains, have driven interest and investment in the area.
🦾 How Robots & Artificial Intelligence are Transforming Unilever's Material Innovation Factory
Each machine at the MIF is designed to crunch colossal amounts of data and maintain consistency across samples and testing. Take Ariana, for example. This robot prepares multiple consistent hair fiber samples in seconds. These perfectly prepped strands are then used for research and testing as part of scientists’ work to create haircare products for Unilever brands. Dove’s Intensive Repair line, now on sale in the UK and the U.S., was developed with Ariana’s assistance, resulting in Unilever’s patented Fibre Repair Actives technology that helps to reconstruct inner hair fibers, reducing breakage and repairing from within.
Artificial intelligence is one advance that’s helping Unilever make progress at pace, allowing scientists to explore vast quantities of data in record time and translate discoveries into new formulas. The vibrant yet fully vegan Hourglass Confession Red Zero lipstick is one such example. Red lipstick is usually formulated using carmine – a pigment requiring over 1,000 crushed beetles per product. But using AI, Unilever’s experts were able to analyze color combinations and possibilities that would have taken millions of physical experiments to replicate. The lipstick launched in 2021.
More than 200 patents were filed between 2020 and 2022 based on data generated at MIF, and Unilever has invested more than €100 million ($123.4 million) in the innovation hub in the past three years.