The Power and
Promise of AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the world as we know it. Find out some of the ways we harness this powerful technology to positively impact people’s lives.

Positively impact people’s lives

You may not realize it, but artificial intelligence (AI) has already woven itself into countless aspects of how we live and work. As soon as we’ve switched on electronic devices, from mobile to laptops, we instantly plug into a variety of AI-powered functions – from Google searches and digital voice assistants to route mapping and watching films and programs on streaming platforms.

From the virtual interactions facilitated by ChatGPT to the autonomy of self-driving cars, AI is one of the biggest technology trends of the 21st century. Academics, economists, scientists, industrialists, and futurists acknowledge that it could reshape the fabric of society on an unprecedented scale.

The sheer potential of AI technology is reflected in its status as one of the fastest-growing industries in the world, with a projected annual growth rate of 33.2% until 2027. [1] AI market size is expected to reach $407 billion by 2027 [2] Its potential economic impact is staggering, forecasted to contribute $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030 – surpassing the combined current output of China and India. [3]Within the business landscape, it is already disrupting processes across various industries, presenting a multitude of potential applications. For example, combining AI and smart manufacturing could deliver a whole range of benefits to many industries, from identifying and producing new drug compounds faster to improving the design and production of electronics materials.

“It’s a game-changer,” says Walid Mehanna, our Chief Data and AI Officer. “AI technology has the capability to transform our operations across all three of our business sectors – electronics, healthcare, and life sciences – unleashing huge benefits for our patients and customers.”

Did you know?

  • 33.2%

    is the projected annual growth rate of AI technology until 2027 [1]

  • 407Bn

    dollar is the expected AI market size by 2027 [2]

  • 15.7T

    dollar is the potential contribution of AI to the 2030 global economy [3]

What is AI?

AI is a broad term for computer-based technologies mimicking human intelligence capabilities – such as recognizing patterns, understanding language, problem-solving, and decision-making. Powered by sets of instructions – or algorithms – it comes in many different forms, ranging from basic tools like customer service chatbots to complex systems for large organizations. The field is vast, encompassing diverse technologies that can be grouped into three main categories:

  • Machine learning techniques can rapidly analyze vast amounts of data and make predictions, appearing to “learn” over time.
  • Deep learning is a subset of machine learning techniques that uses multi-layered artificial neural networks that emulate the complexity of the human brain.
  • Generative AI creates content such as images, text, and audio based on patterns learned from existing data.

While AI’s integration into mainstream society is a relatively recent phenomenon, its conceptual roots date back to 1956.[4] However, its recent surge in attention can be attributed to generative AI applications like ChatGPT, a large language model (LLM) that was launched in 2022. This conversational tool that generates lengthy and fluent passages of text at lightning speed, gained 100 million users within two months, making it the fastest-growing consumer application ever. [5]

“The overnight success of ChatGPT was definitely an important inflection point. As well as providing technology we didn’t have before, it has increased awareness of AI,” says Mehanna. “All of a sudden, something only data professionals had access to before [becoming] mainstream, [is] capturing the attention of a broader public audience.”

Our vision for AI
In today’s world, organizations are eager to exploit AI’s strong points, such as automation, prediction, and modeling – and our company is no exception. We recognize that the technology offers unprecedented opportunities to streamline our business operations, automate repetitive tasks, and allow employees to focus their time on higher-value activities.

“My dream is that all 63,000 of our employees breathe data and AI every single day – understanding its value and applying it,” envisions Mehanna. “Only then we will realize its full potential. This is why data culture is a priority for us.”
We recognize that LLMs, such as ChatGPT, are exciting applications that have potential to change the way we interact with technology. Closely monitoring these developments, we launched myGPT Suite, an AI-based digital assistant designed to help our employees with daily tasks. Powered by the language models behind ChatGPT, this conversational tool provides information and helpful responses to user queries.“When ChatGPT emerged, we wanted to find a way to encourage our colleagues to embrace its possibilities. But at the same time, we were concerned about data security and the potential leakage of confidential information,” explains Mehanna. “That’s why we created our own compliant, safe, and secure alternative, ensuring people don’t have to expose company data to the outside world.”

However, this is just the beginning. Ultimately, we aim to leverage the power of data and AI to deliver huge benefits to our patients and customers. “It’s a massive productivity booster,” says Mehanna. “It can help us to bring new and more effective drugs to patients faster – and accelerate the development and delivery of better materials for our customers.”

For example, we’re using the power of AI to revolutionize the drug discovery process, an area where it offers exciting potential to create dozens of new medicines and a $50 billion market over the next decade. [6]Today, the process of discovering and developing new drugs is costly and time-consuming, often taking 10 to 15 years and costing an average of $1 billion to $2 billion. [7] Our vision is to use AI to make drug discovery and development faster and cheaper – by reducing the time it takes from around 12 years to less than 4 through AI and automation.

AI has the potential to accelerate several stages spanning across the entire drug discovery and development process. At the very earliest stages, the technology has the potential to reduce the time it takes to identify a suitable drug target by more than 70%. [8] Our AI-powered drug discovery platform can then help medicinal chemists to swiftly identify the most suitable drug molecule that can modify the activity of the target. Another of our AI-based tools focuses on accelerating chemical synthesis, offering opportunities to shorten one of the longest steps in drug discovery. And, as a drug advances to large-scale manufacturing, AI further presents opportunities to streamline and optimize processes, expediting the delivery of drugs to patients.

The Power and Promise of AI

Find out how we’re harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to transform people’s lives.

Culture shift

While AI-driven technology has played a role in various teams within our company for many years, the shift lies in its elevation to a strategic priority, permeating every facet of our organization.

“We want to encourage all of our employees to be curious and experiment with it, fail fast, and become productive with data and AI,” says Mehanna.

But the widespread adoption of AI systems, like any emerging technology, poses challenges. The foundation of its success lies in high-quality data, making effective data management and governance imperative.“Good AI stems from good data,” says Mehanna. “If we want to use AI to help us meet our ambitions, we need to prioritize the care and management of our data. This is a joint responsibility – and everyone can, should, must, and will have to do it every single day.”

Using and deploying AI responsibly is paramount to us. That’s why we’ve implemented a comprehensive Code of Digital Ethics (CoDE) to address any ethical considerations that arise from the collection, use, handling, and analysis of data. Additionally, we’ve established a Digital Ethics Advisory Panel consisting of both internal and external experts who can provide guidance and ensure the responsible and ethical use of digital technologies in line with our company values.

“Our employees can apply our Code of Digital Ethics to any AI application idea, and if any of those values are at risk, they can engage with the Digital Ethics Advisory Panel – to determine whether we should be doing it or not,” explains Mehanna.

The future of AI
The field of AI is witnessing remarkable progress, capturing imaginations, and driving innovation across various industries. Despite the current challenges in distinguishing hype from reality, Mehanna predicts the technology will eventually become immersive.

“In the early days of the internet, it dominated headlines, and now it seamlessly integrates into our daily lives,” he explains. “I can foresee a similar trajectory for AI. Right now, it’s new, and everyone is talking about it – but at some point, it will become ubiquitous.”

We are putting AI at center stage at our company in recognition of its potential to help provide solutions to humanity’s most pressing challenges. “These technologies can help us to achieve our goals more efficiently and effectively – for the benefit of people, society, and the planet,” concludes Mehanna. 

In 2012, the United Nations set out 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that meet the urgent environmental, political, and economic challenges facing our world. Three years later, these were adopted by all member states. We are convinced that our work will help to achieve these ambitious targets. Our work to harness the power of AI fits under “Goal 9 – Build resilient infrastructure and foster innovation: Target 9.5 – enhance scientific research, upgrade the technological capabilities of industrial sectors in all countries.”

Learn more about SDGs

References

[1] https://www.searchlogistics.com/learn/statistics/artificial-intelligence-statistics/ 
[2] https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/ai-statistics/#sources_section
[3] https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/data-and-analytics/publications/artificial-intelligence-study.html 
[4] https://home.dartmouth.edu/about/artificial-intelligence-ai-coined-dartmouth 
[5] https://www.notta.ai/en/blog/chatgpt-statistics
[6] https://www.morganstanley.com/ideas/ai-drug-discovery
[7] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211383522000521 
[8] https://eularis.com/ai-in-pharma-and-medicine-whats-in-store-for-2024/ 

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