27 August 2026

AI lab uses living skin to test beauty ingredients faster

• Outer Biosciences, a biotech company, combines AI with donated human skin tissue kept alive in lab conditions to identify promising skincare compounds.
• The method reduces the time to find viable ingredients from 18 months to approximately six weeks by predicting which compounds warrant further testing.
• The company intends to license discovered ingredients to beauty and pharmaceutical companies rather than develop finished products itself.

How it was covered

MindstreamAdam Biddlecombe

Outer Biosciences uses AI with donated human skin tissue kept alive for up to 30 days to predict which compounds are worth testing, dramatically speeding up skincare research from finding compounds every 18 months to roughly every six weeks. The company plans to license discoveries to beauty and pharma companies.