Learning from the successes and failures of early artificial intelligence (AI) adoption for drug discovery in Big BioPharma

The first decade of AI adoption in Big BioPharma has been characterized by genuine breakthroughs and sobering realities. While AI has delivered notable accelerations in hit identification and early-stage design, it has yet to fundamentally alter the success rates of late-stage clinical trials. The industry has learned that AI is neither a silver bullet nor a passing fad, though a critical and evolving component of modern R&D. By consolidating lessons from early adoption, the next decade may see AI truly shift the innovation frontier in global pharmaceutical discovery.