Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.To live close to Silicon Valley is to be a guinea pig if you so choose. There is the automated robotic coffee-dispensing machine awaiting you when you first land at San Francisco airport and driverless cars ready to ferry you about. Now artificial-intelligence powered robots are entering our salons. An Oakland-based start-up is offering $170 eyelash extensions by beauty bot, a sci-fi version of pampering that claims more precision and dexterity than a human, and — the key draw for a demographic that tends to fixate on productivity and “growth mindsets” — in a fraction of the time. My first question naturally was — is it safe? The stakes involved (my eyes) seem high but the beauty assistant who oversees the process said that wands at the end of the robot’s arms, held on by magnets, could be easily brushed away by customers. Plus the robot is able to pause if it detects that you’re sneezing or twitching. Still, as I lay, claustrophobic beneath a hulking, whirring machine not unlike an MRI scanner, it was difficult to feel completely relaxed. LUUM’s proprietary technology, which was six years in the making, is designed to use computer vision to identify a customer’s individual eyelashes and rapidly glue false ones on top, taking a laborious two-hour manual process closer to the 60-minute mark. While techno-optimists tend to focus on the power of AI and robotics to shake up sectors such as defence and manufacturing, the multibillion-dollar beauty and cosmetics industry has quietly been identified as a lucrative target by a handful of AI robot entrepreneurs. Clockwork, which offers $10, 10-minute robot manicures, has already rolled out around 20 machines in the US, including two in San Francisco. Massage bots are being developed by a start-up called Aescape. And tech executives like Esther Crawford, director of product at Meta, are proudly posting pictures of their robotically-applied extensions. So I lay back on my robot bed as it slowly raised me towards a white light so blinding it made me wince, even with my eyes taped shut (typical lash extension protocol). This was not soothing. But still, I was offering my eyes to the AI gods! I was looking into the light! I was the future!Except not quite. As I lay there expectantly I heard the robot arms swish about and then . . . silence. The assistant explained there had been a slight issue with a newly-replaced component but that she was just fixing it. Somewhat disconcerted, I tried to remain calm when the robot started up a second time. Shortly after, another awkward silence, followed by two voices speaking in hushed tones. They were, they said, just “reinitialising” the robot. Third time lucky and the robot got to work. My concerns were quickly allayed by its deft work. There was a light pressure as it applied each lash but nothing alarming. The application didn’t feel too different to my normal beauty appointments. After about 45 minutes, the assistant added a final few lashes by hand, a sort of tidying up she called the “artistry” process, and we were done. Quick, convenient and the eyelashes look the part. I’m told a forthcoming iteration of the machine will do both eyes at once to make proceedings even faster. Still, I’m not sure I’d return. Part of my desired salon experience is escapism. During human-led lash treatments I can listen to music or a soothing podcast, or take a delicious daytime nap. Although I came to trust my gentle beauty bot and its magic wands, it was hard to unwind while the machine whirred like a printer and shone operating room-style lights down at me.These bugbears will eventually be worked through and, despite protestations to the contrary by start-up CEOs, aestheticians’ jobs will be cut or forever altered. The male-dominated tech industry is starting to realise that this is a consumer industry of low-hanging fruit ripe for disruption. Despite this, the era of fully automated beauty treatments is still some way off. I was very grateful for the human presence — and reminded of it when I received a text noting that I could leave a gratuity for my lash procedure via cash or a payments app. Even AI robots can’t displace America’s tipping culture. [email protected]
