AI Brand Comms Tracker, January 2025: Diagnostics, Co-Pilots, Coaches & Scam-Baiting
Published 31 January 2025
Amid increasing industry competition with the release of Chinese artificial intelligence model DeepSeek, generative AI’s status as a major brand engagement imperative is hotting up. Stylus's first monthly AI brand comms update maps emerging trends and tactics – including Haut.AI’s upgraded skin analysis and ingredient visualiser; Nvidia’s blueprint for retail co-pilots; Soul Machines’ stress-busting seasonal assistants; and O2’s scam-baiting granny chatbot.
Haut.AI’s Skin Analysis Maps Improvements on Consumers’ Faces
Showcasing a promising upgrade for the future of branded skincare consultations is Estonian start-up Haut.AI. The beauty tech company has evolved its existing Skin GPT offering (see Digital Commerce: 7 Trends & Opportunities 24/25) with a consumer-facing Generative Skin Library – a website allowing people to visualise the predicted efficacy of skincare ingredients on their own face.
People take a photo of their face via webcam or smartphone to receive an AI skin analysis report across nine areas of concern – redness, uniformness, acne, hydration, eye area, pigmentation, lines, pores and translucency. From this, users navigate to dedicated pages equipped with a tool to visualise how suggested active ingredients (such as retinol, hydroquinone and vitamin C) could improve their specific skin, with the ability to toggle between visualisations of four, eight and 12 weeks of use.
While Haut.AI is yet to announce brand partnerships for Generative Skin, existing partners include American beauty giant Ulta Beauty and French cosmetics company Clarins.
Haut AI Generative Skin
Haut AI Generative Skin
 Haut AI Generative Skin |  Haut AI Generative Skin |
Nvidia’s Blueprint for Next-Gen Retail AI Co-Pilots
American tech company Nvidia’s AI Blueprint for retail assistants is intended to supercharge brands’ virtual shopping assistants (such as those detailed in Language & Conversational Commerce in Life in AI: Commerce, Communication & Service). While existing retail co-pilots are predominantly single-focus, Nvidia combines functionalities, thereby turbocharging retail AI assistants. Features include:
- Naturalistic Responses: An LLM (Large Language Model) enabling conversational responses (see also Virgin Money’s chatbot Redi in Life in AI: Commerce, Communication & Service).
- Multi-product searches: Upgraded reasoning skills, allowing AI assistants to fetch multiple product responses to answer questions such as: “Do you have a purse and shoes that suit this dress?” (See also Walmart & Microsoft’s conversational commerce in NRF, Retail’s Big Show 2024: 5 Key Themes.
- Visualising Products In-Situ: Using their device’s camera, AI assistant users can map 3D models of products onto a scanned environment to see potential purchases in their own space (see also Ikea’s room-scanning app Kreativ in Life in AI: Commerce, Communication & Service.
Soul Machines Soothes Seasonal Stressors
Continuing its development of mindset-specific assistants, New Zealand-based Soul Machines – which provides “humanised AI assistants” using its Experiential AI tech (see Boosting Soft Skills in Life in AI: Work, Learning & Skills) – expanded its repertoire of interactive AI avatars this January with wellness assistant, Grace.
Users can speak with Grace via Soul Machines’ website to plan fitness routines or receive advice on sticking to new year resolutions. Like other Soul Machines assistants, Grace receives input through the user’s camera and microphone, allowing the synth being to respond to subtle communication cues in facial expressions and tone of voice, creating naturalistic and empathetic connections.
The launch follows other seasonal AI assistants released by Soul Machines in late 2024. These include an update of AI therapist Shyla (outlined in Life in AI: Companionship, Connection & Intimacy) to tailor her conversations to help users through difficult family relationships during the holidays; and the introduction of financial coach Robin, who assisted users with gift budgeting and strategising Christmas spending.
Grace by Soul Machines
Robin by Soul Machines
 Grace by Soul Machines |  Robin by Soul Machines |
O2’s Gran Bot Lures Tele-Scammers
A notable precursor to 2025 AI launches – in November 2024, British telecom brand O2 partnered with global communications agency VCCP (and leading Northern Irish software engineer, YouTuber and scam baiter Jim Browning) to create Daisy, an autonomous gran-inspired AI chatbot. Its LLM, with ultra-keen contextual awareness, is designed to waste telephone scammers’ time – reducing their ability to target real victims. For added realism, a custom text-to-speech model was trained on a VCCP staff member’s grandmother.
