Is the future of beauty an AI mirror?

Jacqueline Raich is the founder and CEO of Primer -- a mirror that acts like a makeup artist living in your home. Through AI and augmented reality, it gives you step-by-step guidance on how to create your look.

@theintersectshow Have you read Harry Potter? What if the mirror in the room of requirement was actually real... Primer Founder & CEO Jacqueline Raich shares the vision behind her AI-powered smart mirror bringing the makeup artist into your home through augmented reality. 🎧 Full episode at the link in bio or wherever you get your podcasts. #TheIntersect #BeautyTech #HarryPotter #AugmentedReality #EmbodiedAI #WomenInTech #fyp #foryoupage ♬ original sound - theintersectshow

Jacqueline says that while not everybody’s a makeup artist, everyone can follow paint-by-numbers. YouTube tutorials and influencer tips are great, but they’re hard to replicate, and not adapted to your exact face. What she's building with Primer is not just personalized, but also offers real-time feedback and coaching you through each step.

Primer is a physical product, an actual mirror, with AI software integrated behind the scenes. When we think about AI, we generally think about chatbots or automation, not necessarily objects in our homes. Especially ones that learn from us, can then coach us and maybe even change perhaps how we see ourselves?

Jacqueline isn’t a typical tech founder either. She came from fashion and merchandising, not Silicon Valley. She’s also completely open about using AI as a thought partner every day as she builds this product -- which feels important because women are adopting AI tools at slower rates than men.

What Jacqueline is building with Primer feels like the start of something bigger -- a future where beauty tools help us experiment, play and maybe even change how we see ourselves.

This week’s reading picks go into how AI is reshaping not just beauty, but search, culture and even the ways we chase altered states.

Here’s this week’s episode: ‘Is the future of beauty an AI mirror?’

Cory

Some of what I’m reading this week:

This week, along with our Primer episode, beauty tech gets an AI glow-up while the rest of the internet quietly splits in two. Also in the mix -- AI trip-sitters, viral deepfake politics and why taste might just might be the new IQ.

​L’Oréal’s generative AI glow-up​

The world’s biggest beauty brand just partnered with Nvidia to bring generative AI into everything from marketing to product design. Think personalized 3D product mockups, virtual skin consultations and a beauty assistant that can build you a routine based on your data. AI isn’t just selling beauty now -- it’s shaping what gets made.
By Bernard Marr (Forbes)

​The hair tool race heats up with AI​

Good Hair Day (GHD) just launched CurlFinder -- a quiz-like tool that recommends the exact product for your hair type and desired curl. It’s a small move, but signals where beauty is headed: hyper-personalized, AI-guided experiences that feel like a salon consult, but on your phone.
(Vogue Business)

​The end of the search era​

Search engines used to trade traffic for access. Now AI tools like ChatGPT scrape and answer directly -- no clicks, no credit, no revenue. Publishers are building two versions of the web: one for humans and one stripped down for bots. SEO is dead -- welcome to AEO (AI engine optimization).
By Adam Pasick (Quartz)

​The Dor Brothers are remaking viral video with AI​

A fake Trump rapping in a limo was just one of the Dor Brothers’ AI-powered viral hits. Their lifelike, subversive videos have racked up hundreds of millions of views and pulled brands into a future where political satire and advertising are indistinguishable -- and fully machine-made.
By Nico Grant (The New York Times)

​AI wants to be your trip-sitter​

Some people are now taking mushrooms with ChatGPT as their ‘guide’ -- cueing music, whispering reassurances, even encouraging delusions. It’s a case study in what happens when therapy gets replaced by bots.
By Tanya Basu (Wired)

​Taste is the new intelligence​

When AI can make anything, the smart move is knowing what’s worth making. This essay argues taste -- restraint, coherence, curation -- is the new IQ. A manifesto for building better mental inputs in a world drowning in noise.
By Stepfanie Tyler (Wild Bare Thoughts)