L’Oréal Uses AI to Screen Millions. But There’s a Catch

What does hiring look like when you’re dealing with over a million applications a year? For L'Oréal, it’s not even a question anymore. AI isn’t optional. It’s the only way to operate at that scale. Over the past few years, they’ve quietly built one of the most advanced AI hiring stacks in the world, using multiple tools across countries to screen, assess, and engage candidates. And the results are hard to ignore. Faster screening, massive time savings, and even more diverse hiring outcomes. But here’s where things get interesting. While the operational side is clearly working, the regulatory side might not be keeping up. With the EU AI Act coming into force in August 2026, many of the tools used in hiring are now considered “high-risk.” That means stricter requirements around transparency, documentation, human oversight, and bias monitoring. In this episode, we break down how L’Oréal’s AI hiring stack actually works, what kind of results it’s delivering, and why even one of the most advanced setups in the world might still face challenges when regulation catches up. If you’re building or thinking about AI in hiring, this is exactly the kind of tension you need to understand.