Data governance
Data governance is a cornerstone of our digital transformation strategy, and we work to ensure data remains secure, reliable, and valuable across the organization, via our data foundation program. In 2025, we advanced several policies and standards to strengthen our governance framework, defining roles and responsibilities, establishing taxonomies, and setting quality benchmarks to ensure consistency and compliance across domains. In parallel, we continued to evolve and rationalize our data ecosystem so that data can flow seamlessly and securely across the company as products of business processes, while still supporting ongoing and new analytics, AI, and innovation.
Governance, oversight, and engagement
In 2025, we enhanced our Responsible AI policy by establishing a dedicated Responsible AI committee to oversee governance, transparency, and ethical conduct. It manages risk assessments, compliance, and development procedures. Our Data and AI Standards clarify roles, guide buy-vs-build decisions, and support teams in delivering scalable solutions. We also engage employees, customers, and partners to address concerns related to AI deployment. Through transparent reporting and ongoing dialogue, we assess impacts on sustainability, human rights, and ethical conduct, supporting long-term value creation.
Artificial intelligence (AI)
AI is pivotal to transforming how we operate, compete, and create value, enabling better decision-making and greater operational agility. We believe our scale, internal data, and talent provide an excellent foundation for AI to drive innovation and efficiency. Our strategy embeds AI into the company’s priority processes -like product creation- to deliver measurable business outcomes.
However, the pace of advancement, evolving regulations, and growing ethical concerns around AI pose operational and reputational risks to our business.
Risk identification and mitigation
We have implemented a comprehensive plan to address AI-related risks, including bias. Updated frameworks and practices strengthen accountability and ensure systems operate securely, ethically, and reliably while enabling ambitious use-case development. In response to these challenges, we are also modernizing our technology infrastructure (for agentic AI) and addressing competition for AI talent through targeted investments, in key locations.
Employee adoption remains a key change management challenge. We continue to create material supported by training, workshops and awareness initiatives to promote responsible and effective AI use. This means that as
employees explore the opportunities and limitations presented by AI, they will become more effective owners and users of digital solutions, which will drive increased adoption and deliver improved business value.
Our AI focus
We envision AI supercharging our business across four key areas:
Customer focus
Innovation in product development
Operational efficiency
Empowerment of employees
Our four AI focus areas
Business Unit impact
For P&B, TTH, and HNC, our AI tools helped match the most suitable product to the customer’s specific requirements. AI also aided in the processes of formulation development and evidence generation for all three Business Units. P&B and TTH additionally saw benefits from AI use in ingredient discovery and
customer care, while P&B was aided with inventory optimization. Finally, our company-wide AI program, ‘We Are Superhumans’, is already delivering benefits, and is described in further detail on the following page.
AI-driven formula generation
Innovation in product development is central to our strategy, and the introduction of our AI-driven formula generation assistant exemplifies this commitment. By leveraging advanced algorithms, our creators are now able to generate provisional perfume and flavor formulas tailored to specific criteria, streamlining the formulation process and freeing up valuable time for the creative and strategic aspects of their work.
This initiative not only enhances productivity within our teams but also accelerates the delivery of new products to market, supporting both operational efficiency and sales growth. Finally, it underscores our focus on harnessing technology to drive value and maintaining our competitive edge.
AI-powered sensory description
Operational excellence is reinforced by our AI-powered sensory description service, which instantly provides comprehensive and standardized sensory profiles for new formulas.
By automating what was previously a manual and time-intensive task, this service ensures consistency and accuracy in product descriptions, creating a single source of truth across the organization. The result is a more efficient workflow for creators and teams, supporting faster communication and decision-making while upholding the highest standards of quality.
Our strategy for 2026
Looking ahead, we aim to accelerate impact and capture business value using AI through the following steps:
Focus and build on our learnings: We will continue prioritizing use cases that provide value and allow us to continue to build an all-encompassing foundation. Our end-goal is to consolidate a single AI inventory to avoid fragmentation and double spend
Anchor our foundations: We will continue to invest in AI enablers: data, tech, internal talent, and change management
Scale the ‘We are Superhuman’ campaign: We will prioritize existing change management and adoption plans to move from ‘experiments’ to ‘business as usual,’ embedding a culture of innovation across the business in a responsible manner
Prepare for the future: We will continue to develop our thought leadership in AI application and will accelerate building the right partnership in the AI space, ultimately reinforcing our data competences and expanding our AI strategy in a continuous manner
As this strategy matures, we aim to further embed AI across our business processes in innovative new ways, combining our existing scientific expertise with cutting-edge AI technologies to enable more robust, sustainable, and value-generating solutions. Our objective is to progress beyond combining solutions for specific individual purposes to the creation of a fully integrated process landscape that comprehensively supports our employees with their decision-making.
Superhuman progress in 2025
In March 2025, we were proud to launch our new ‘We Are Superhuman’ campaign.
‘We are Superhuman’ is all about promoting responsible AI adoption. The goal is to help employees be faster, smarter, and more empowered at work, while also shaping a working environment where humanity is seamlessly integrated with technology. All employees now have access to Copilot Chat, a secure, enterprise-grade alternative to ChatGPT, and for advanced users we also offer Copilot Pro, which can be used as an AI assistant to boost productivity. Across the year, we saw a fantastic take-up.
