AI appears set to be the thing that separates the next generation of business success stories and market dropouts. It has revolutionized the transportation industry by bringing the science fiction dream of autonomous cars into reality, as driverless taxis have already been tested and deployed in the U.S. Further indicators of its importance come from finance companies like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley -- all of which have aggressively expanded their data and tech teams over the past year -- looking to deploy AI projects that will give them the competitive edge against their rivals. The application of this technology ranges from the mundane to the absurd, seemingly with no sector able to escape its influence -- and the pharma industry is no different. From personal experience, having spent nearly three decades working in the technology industry, and from many conversations with my better half, a longtime pharmaceutical research professional in the therapeutics and drug-discovery sector, there's no question the opportunity for AI in pharma is immense. Some of the industry's giants have already started to take the plunge and implement AI strategies for an array of different purposes, setting the stage for industry transformation.