Moderna injects AI across operations to boost vaccine development

Moderna’s AI transformation represents a bold organizational shift in pharmaceutical development, as the COVID-19 vaccine maker integrates artificial intelligence across every facet of its business operations. The company’s extensive partnership with OpenAI has enabled the deployment of thousands of customized AI models designed to automate work previously handled by humans, leading to unconventional structural changes including the merger of its HR and technology departments under unified leadership.

The big picture: Moderna has deployed over 3,000 GPTs across the company in a comprehensive AI implementation strategy that’s reshaping its organizational structure.

• The biotech company has taken the unusual step of merging its Human Resources and Technology departments under a single leader, signaling a fundamental shift in how it views the relationship between people and technology.
• This AI transformation builds upon a partnership with OpenAI that began in 2023 with an employee chatbot and expanded in April 2024 with a formal agreement to accelerate development of “life-saving treatments.”

Early results: One of Moderna’s initial AI implementation successes came through its Dose ID GPT, which helps evaluate optimal vaccine dosages for maximum effectiveness.

• The company has embedded specialized GPTs across multiple business functions including legal, research, manufacturing, and commercial operations.
• Moderna is actively redesigning teams and workflows based specifically on what processes can be automated with AI technology.

Behind the numbers: Moderna’s AI transformation has already impacted its workforce, with approximately 50 employees (10 percent of its digital technology division) laid off in February.

• These staffing reductions came despite the company’s expansion of AI capabilities, suggesting the technology is being positioned to replace certain human functions rather than simply augment them.
• The biotech company appears to be following through on the promise of its April 2024 partnership with OpenAI, which explicitly focused on accelerating treatment development through AI implementation.