Pfizer

How they deploy

Deployment model

Pfizer runs AI as a shared backbone with delivery in the businesses. Pfizer's technology organization, Pfizer Digital, builds and manages the enterprise AI backbone, while each division sets its own AI strategy, model use and spending (Fortune, Sep 2026). Chief Digital and Technology Officer Lidia Fonseca led the organization until Apr 2026, and CIO and EVP Dennis Hancock now leads Pfizer's enterprise technology, digital and AI strategy (CDO Magazine, Jul 2026). Jeremy Forman, promoted to Chief AI, Data and Analytics Officer in Feb 2026, is charged with integrating AI and data across the enterprise (CDO Magazine, Feb 2026). Pfizer also has an AI Council, which Chief AI and Analytics Officer Berta Rodriguez-Hervas joined as co-chair in Aug 2024. R&D embeds AI engineers in each function, and Pfizer's enabling functions use AI that its large technology vendors build into their platforms, Pfizer's CFO said in Feb 2026.

Model providers

Pfizer uses several model providers and lets divisions choose their model use (Fortune, Sep 2026). Pfizer built Vox on AWS with large language models from Amazon SageMaker and Amazon Bedrock (AWS re:Invent, Nov 2023), and an undated AWS case study says Vox search uses Anthropic's Claude 2.1 through Bedrock. Charlie, the marketing content platform Pfizer built with Publicis Groupe on its Marcel platform, generates content with a custom version of ChatGPT (Digiday, Feb 2024). For science, Pfizer licenses Chai Discovery's Chai-3 model (Jun 2026), has Boltz refine its open-source Boltz-2 and BoltzGen models on Pfizer data (Jan 2026), and works with XtalPi and PostEra. Pfizer's 2025 Form 10-K lists reliance on a small number of AI models or service providers as a risk.

Data and infrastructure

Pfizer runs most of its infrastructure in the cloud: AWS's page on Lidia Fonseca's re:Invent keynote (Nov 2023) says Pfizer went from about 10% to 80% cloud-based and built a Scientific Data Cloud with AWS that gathers data from hundreds of lab instruments. Pfizer and Amazon Web Services launched the Pfizer-Amazon Collaboration Team (PACT) in 2021 in Pfizer's Pharmaceutical Sciences Small Molecule group, applying AWS analytics, machine learning, compute and storage to lab, clinical manufacturing and clinical supply work; five of PACT's first 14 prototypes moved into production. Albert Bourla said on Feb 3, 2026 that Pfizer is expanding to more than 1,200 GPUs over two years, largely for R&D, without saying where they run. Bourla said in May 2026 that Pfizer holds a large repository of small and large molecule, translational and clinical data for AI to mine, and the Boltz collaboration refines models on that historical data while Pfizer keeps ownership of any compounds.

Leadership

AI, data and platform leaders

AI org map

Central technology team runs the AI backbone; divisions own their AI strategy, models and spending

Pfizer's Chief Digital and Technology Officer, Lidia Fonseca, sat on the Executive Leadership Team from Jan 2019 and led enterprise AI, digital, data and technology strategy until Apr 2026, adding Berta Rodriguez-Hervas as Chief AI and Analytics Officer and AI Council co-chair in Aug 2024. Pfizer promoted Jeremy Forman to Chief AI, Data and Analytics Officer in Feb 2026; Fonseca became Senior Advisor to the CEO in May 2026, and Pfizer promoted Dennis Hancock to Chief Information Officer and Executive Vice President to lead enterprise technology, digital and AI strategy (CDO Magazine, Jul 2026). Pfizer divisions own their AI strategies and spending, and R&D embeds AI engineers in each function.

Pfizer has not disclosed how many people work on AI or data. Pfizer's AI work sits in three places: the technology organization, known as Pfizer Digital, which runs the enterprise AI backbone, added a Chief AI and Analytics Officer in Aug 2024 and promoted Jeremy Forman to Chief AI, Data and Analytics Officer in Feb 2026, with a Head of AI Center of Excellence and a Chief AI Architect being recruited to report to him (AIM Media House, Mar 2026); AI engineers that R&D is recruiting into each function, from discovery to clinical trial execution (Feb 2026); and teams in each division that own their AI strategy and spending. Pfizer also runs digital innovation teams in its pharmaceutical sciences group, which built the PACT prototypes with AWS, and in marketing, which runs Charlie.

Use cases

Pfizer has not published a count of its AI use cases; its executives describe AI in production across drug discovery, clinical development, regulatory, pharmacovigilance, manufacturing, supply planning, field sales, marketing and enabling functions. Pfizer has credited one use case with a business return: Albert Bourla said in Feb 2026 that Golden Batch delivered a very big part of the savings from Pfizer's manufacturing optimization program, which reached about $600 million by the end of 2025. At the firm level Bourla said in Jan 2026 that AI was a significant contributor to the $5.6 billion of cost Pfizer took out, without separating AI's share from simplification and pipeline prioritization.

Adoption

Pfizer has used AI for more than a decade, according to Fortune. The PACT program with AWS began in 2021, Charlie reached hundreds of central marketers and thousands of people across Pfizer brands by Feb 2024, and Pfizer appointed a Chief AI and Analytics Officer in Aug 2024. Pfizer says 98% of eligible employees have taken the first course of an AI certification program tailored to every role and function, which Fortune reported in Sep 2026 as 98% of the workforce completing AI certification, and Albert Bourla said in May 2026 that Pfizer pairs frontier AI tools tailored to each function and role with continuously updated training. Pfizer has not published how many employees use its AI tools daily or weekly.

By the numbers

Economics & controls

Recent signals

1. Oct 28, 2026

   ManpowerGroup elected Lidia Fonseca to its board from Nov 1, 2026, describing her as Pfizer's Chief Digital and Technology Officer from Jan 2019 to Apr 2026, now Senior Advisor to the CEO, who built Pfizer's enterprise AI program.

   ManpowerGroup release (SEC)

2. Sep 29, 2026

   Fortune ranked Pfizer 48th on its AIQ 75 list, reporting that 98% of Pfizer's workforce had completed an AI certification program, and CIO Dennis Hancock set a goal of using AI from DNA to patient.

   Fortune

3. Sep 22, 2026

   Alexandre de Germay told a JPMorgan conference that Pfizer's divisions set their own AI priorities, that advanced analytics and AI drove much of a tripling in international sales force productivity, and that AI cut study report times from three months to days.

   JPMorgan U.S. All Stars transcript

4. Aug 17, 2026

   Medtronic's proxy statement disclosed that Lidia Fonseca became Senior Advisor to Pfizer's CEO in May 2026 after serving as Chief Digital and Technology Officer.

   Medtronic 2026 proxy

5. Aug 4, 2026

   Albert Bourla said AI is already cutting cost and raising yields in manufacturing and set a goal of an AI-native R&D organization, as Pfizer added $1.0 billion of net savings for 2027 to 2029 from technology and simplification.

   Q2 2026 earnings call

6. Jul 6, 2026

   CDO Magazine reported that Pfizer promoted Dennis Hancock, a Pfizer employee since 1995 who founded Health Answers by Pfizer, to Chief Information Officer and Executive Vice President over enterprise technology, digital and AI strategy.

   CDO Magazine

7. Jun 4, 2026

   Pfizer licensed Chai Discovery's AI platform, including the Chai-3 model, to design therapeutic antibodies.

   BioPharma Dive

8. May 5, 2026

   Albert Bourla said Pfizer pairs frontier AI tools tailored to each role with continuous training and that the coming years are for the AI transformation of Pfizer rather than a large merger.

   Q1 2026 earnings call

9. Apr 10, 2026

   Pfizer moved its search engine and AI discoverability work in-house, building the team in about 60 days.

   Digiday

10. Mar 12, 2026

    Pfizer's proxy statement listed AI among the board's enterprise risk topics and reported investor questions about the board's AI expertise.

    2026 proxy statement

11. Feb 3, 2026

    Albert Bourla made scaling AI one of Pfizer's four 2026 priorities, announced an expansion to more than 1,200 GPUs and called AI the main lever behind Pfizer's cost cuts.

    Q4 2025 earnings call

12. Feb 3, 2026

    CDO Magazine reported that Pfizer promoted Jeremy Forman, its Vice President of Global R&D AI, Data and Analytics since Mar 2024, to Chief AI, Data and Analytics Officer.

    CDO Magazine

13. Jan 27, 2026

    Albert Bourla told Fortune that machine learning cut Paxlovid's preclinical phase from four years to four months and that AI winners will be those that transform their organizations.

    Fortune

14. Jan 12, 2026

    Albert Bourla told the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference that AI was a significant contributor to the $5.6 billion of cost Pfizer took out and that Pfizer is ready to scale AI across the organization.

    J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference transcript

15. Jan 8, 2026

    Pfizer and Boltz announced a collaboration to build exclusive biomolecular foundation models refined on Pfizer's historical data.

    Boltz

Quick answers

How does Pfizer deploy AI?

Pfizer deploys AI through an enterprise backbone run by its technology team, while each division owns its AI strategy, models and spending. Named tools include Vox, which gave scientists Anthropic's Claude on Amazon Bedrock, and Charlie for marketing content; Boltz and Chai Discovery supply drug discovery models. Pfizer made scaling AI a 2026 priority and says 98% of eligible employees took its first AI course. Albert Bourla calls AI a significant contributor to $5.6 billion of cost cuts, without separating its share.

What does Pfizer use AI for?

Pfizer has not published a count of its AI use cases; its executives describe AI in production across drug discovery, clinical development, regulatory, pharmacovigilance, manufacturing, supply planning, field sales, marketing and enabling functions. Pfizer has credited one use case with a business return: Albert Bourla said in Feb 2026 that Golden Batch delivered a very big part of the savings from Pfizer's manufacturing optimization program, which reached about $600 million by the end of 2025. At the firm level Bourla said in Jan 2026 that AI was a significant contributor to the $5.6 billion of cost Pfizer took out, without separating AI's share from simplification and pipeline prioritization.

Who leads AI at Pfizer?

AI at Pfizer is led by Lidia Fonseca (Senior Advisor to the CEO; Chief Digital and Technology Officer, Jan 2019 to Apr 2026); Dennis Hancock (Chief Information Officer and Executive Vice President); Jeremy Forman (Chief AI, Data and Analytics Officer). Ownership of AI on the org chart: CIO and EVP Dennis Hancock; Chief AI, Data and Analytics Officer Jeremy Forman (Feb 2026).

What AI platform does Pfizer use?

Pfizer's technology team builds and manages an enterprise AI backbone while each division owns its AI strategy, model use and investment (Fortune, Sep 2026); named tools include Vox for scientists and Charlie for marketing content.

Which AI models does Pfizer use?

Pfizer's Vox gave scientists Anthropic's Claude 2.1 through Amazon Bedrock (undated AWS case study), Charlie generated marketing content with a custom version of ChatGPT built with Publicis Groupe (Feb 2024), and Boltz and Chai Discovery supply drug discovery models (2026).

How many Pfizer employees use AI?

Pfizer says 98% of eligible employees have taken the first course of its AI certification program, which Fortune reported in Sep 2026 as 98% of the workforce; Pfizer employed about 75,000 people at the end of 2025 and has not published how many use its AI tools each week.

How far has AI spread at Pfizer?

Pfizer sits at Scaling: AI runs in production across drug discovery, clinical development, manufacturing, supply planning, field sales, marketing and enabling functions, 98% of eligible employees have taken the first course of Pfizer's AI certification program, scaling AI is one of Pfizer's four 2026 priorities, and Albert Bourla reports AI results on earnings calls. CIO Dennis Hancock owns enterprise AI strategy, and Jeremy Forman has been Chief AI, Data and Analytics Officer since Feb 2026. Pfizer falls short of Embedded on two tests: Pfizer has published no weekly usage figure or count of AI use cases, and has not separated AI's share of its cost savings from simplification.

Open questions

• Does CIO and EVP Dennis Hancock report directly to Albert Bourla and sit on the Executive Leadership Team, when did he take over the technology, digital and AI remit Lidia Fonseca held until Apr 2026, and does Chief AI, Data and Analytics Officer Jeremy Forman report to him?
• Has Berta Rodriguez-Hervas, Chief AI and Analytics Officer from Aug 2024, left Pfizer, and who co-chairs the AI Council now?
• How many Pfizer employees use AI tools each week, as distinct from the 98% of eligible employees who took the first AI course, and which tools do they use?
• What share of the $5.6 billion of cost Pfizer took out through 2025, including about $500 million of R&D savings, came from AI rather than simplification, pipeline prioritization and job cuts?
• How much of the tripling of international sales force productivity that Alexandre de Germay described in Sep 2026 does Pfizer credit to AI rather than to a more focused deployment of resources?
• Can Pfizer's own value figures for AI be confirmed? A third-party summary of a Lidia Fonseca interview attributes to her more than $1 billion of incremental value from AI programs, and a Pfizer biography of Fonseca, seen only in a search summary, said AI was expected to deliver $4 billion; neither appears in Pfizer's filings or earnings calls.
• Where do Pfizer's planned 1,200-plus GPUs run: in Pfizer's own data centers, on AWS or with another cloud provider?
• Which models power Pfizer's enterprise AI backbone today, beyond the Claude 2.1 in Vox and the custom ChatGPT in Charlie reported in 2024, and is Charlie still in use?
• What business return do Pfizer's deployed tools with no published figure deliver, such as Vox, Charlie, field force planning and cross-market promotional review?
• What does the Golden Batch use case do, and how much of the roughly $600 million of 2025 manufacturing savings does Pfizer attribute to it?
• How many AI engineers has Pfizer R&D hired into its functions, and how many AI and data specialists does Pfizer employ overall?
• What do the Boltz and Chai Discovery agreements cost Pfizer, and have they produced development candidates?

Sources