Welcome, innovators.

Sephora is always looking for ways to up its beauty game — and they’ve hit a homerun with its latest AI-driven technologies.

We get into the weeds below…

In today’s newsletter:

• Today’s must-read stories 📰

• Sephora’s AI makeover

• Prompt of the day ✍️

Today’s must-read stories 📰 

Saudi AI summit welcomes 30,000 global delegates 👋

Saudi Arabia's third annual Global AI Summit in Riyadh welcomed over 30,000 delegates, saw 450 speakers from 100 countries, and resulted in more than 80 agreements.

Google helping small businesses grow with AI 📈

Google announced two initiatives at the Annual SBDC Conference, including $10 million in funding to support AI training and tools for small businesses through America's SBDC AI U, and a new AI workshop from Grow with Google to help small businesses utilize AI-powered tools.

Salesforce launches Agentforce 🤖

Salesforce announced "Agentforce," an AI system centered around autonomous agents capable of reasoning and performing tasks.

Together with Ashby

Transform your hiring game with Ashby

For a hectic startup, hiring can be a messy process. Ashby makes it so much easier. (That’s why writing this particular slot was so much fun — at The Deep View we use Ashby and love it).

Their interface is intuitive, and applicants are easily organized, making reviews quicker, more targeted, and as painless as possible.

With Ashby, our scheduling is almost completely automated, and as it turns out, their new AI-assisted application review actually enables us to deliver a much more human experience. Having all our workflows in a single tool helps us deliver a better candidate experience with better data and more accuracy.

Plus, all of Ashby’s AI-backed features are reliable, secure and trustworthy (it checks all the boxes).

If you’re hiring — but want to handle that process without your usual migraines — switch to Ashby. 

AI Artwork 🖼️ 

Miscellaneous resources

• Want to become an AI consultant? AI For Work readers get early access to The AI Consultancy Project. Request early access.*

• Tired of receiving compliance notices from state tax agencies? Automate payroll, compliance, and benefits management with Warp. Get started today and get a $1,000 gift card.*

• Google Cloud: Gen AI bootcamp.

• Simplilearn: How to become an AI engineer. 

• University of Pennsylvania: AI for business specialization bootcamp.

AI tools 🔨 

• Still managing your inbox? Superfilter uses AI to turn important emails into tasks, and then offers to handle them for you — just like human assistants do. Click here to skip the waitlist.*

• Smartcat: AI translation platform.

• Chatfuel: Scale business in messengers with AI.

• Retain AI: Send winback emails generated by AI.

Together with Vellum

Unlock the Power of AI: Join Vellum’s Free GenAI Webinar Series

If you’re new to AI or need the confidence to launch in production, you need Vellum’s free GenAI webinar series. From idea to validation to production-grade systems — hear best practices from AI experts who have been in your shoes at companies like Redfin and Drata.

Come to learn and speed up AI development. 

Register now and discover the power of accelerated AI development.

Sephora’s AI makeover

Sephora continues to lead beauty innovation by integrating AI technologies that enhance the customer shopping experience and improve operations behind the scenes. 

These advancements offer personalized interactions and streamlined processes that revolutionize the way customers engage with beauty products.

Key takeaways

• AI-powered virtual try-on: Sephora’s Virtual Artist allows customers to digitally try on makeup.

• Personalized beauty recommendations: AI analyzes customer data to suggest tailored beauty products — available both online and in-store.

• Skincare diagnostics: AI assesses skin needs through photo analysis, recommending skincare products based on factors like hydration and blemishes.

• Supply chain optimization: AI predicts product demand to ensure better stock management and reduce overstock or shortages.

• Seamless omnichannel shopping: AI integrates the online and in-store experience to create a smooth and personalized journey for customers.

Our thoughts

Sephora’s use of AI is transforming beauty retail, offering customers a more personalized, convenient, and efficient way to shop — all while improving backend operations like inventory management. That’s powerful stuff.

Prompt of the day ✍️ 

Chief marketing officer (create a marketing budget document)

How it works:

This prompt guides the creation of a marketing budget document through tailored, iterative refinement based on user input, reference materials, and evaluation rubrics.

Why use it:

A chief marketing officer would use this prompt to create a precise, data-driven marketing budget that aligns with business goals, maximizes ROI, and incorporates expert insights and continuous refinement for optimal decision-making.

Prompt Example:

{"prompt":"Develop a tailored Marketing Budget Document aligned with the user's individual needs, drawing insights from the supplied reference materials. Initiate interaction with the user to obtain essential specifics and resolve any ambiguities. Iteratively refine the Marketing Budget Document through consistent evaluations using the given evaluationRubric and gather user input to ensure the end product aligns with the users expectations.}

You can find the prompt in its entirety here.