Super Bowl ads often set cultural trends, and this year, AI was a hot topic with about 23% of commercials featuring the technology. Like any big change, AI has caused some worry, from concerns about the environmental impact of AI data centers to potential effects on children’s learning. For workers, the fear of job losses is real. As big companies focus on efficiency and growth, AI is replacing human workers quickly. Amazon recently announced 16,000 layoffs, adding to the 14,000 jobs cut earlier in the year. Amazon’s CEO, Andy Jassy, noted in June 2025 that as AI becomes more common, fewer people will be needed for certain jobs, while new types of jobs will emerge. Despite these changes, the biopharma industry is likely to be spared from major job losses for now. Jae Yoo, executive director of EPM Scientific, a recruitment firm specializing in pharma, biotech, and R&D hiring, said, ‘I wouldn’t say that AI is necessarily replacing jobs one-for-one. It’s rehousing and reshaping the types of jobs that are now coming in.’ A recent poll of industry leaders agreed, with pharma executives reporting that they don’t think AI will lead to major job losses. Instead, AI is creating new roles and enhancing existing ones, making skills like curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking more important. While biotech job losses have increased, this isn’t necessarily due to AI. In fact, AI has created jobs at some big pharma companies. Eli Lilly, for example, is working with NVIDIA to build an ‘AI factory for drug discovery’ and a co-innovation lab in San Francisco, which will create new scientific and technical roles. AI hiring is a priority for the life sciences industry, with more than half of surveyed biotech executives saying that AI experts are among the top three roles they need to fill. The demand for AI talent is critical as life sciences companies build more in-house AI teams. ‘I’m seeing more in-house analytics buildouts versus previous years where they would outsource a lot of these to vendors,’ Yoo said. ‘Instead of using one person to oversee a vendor, they’ll create that team internally.’ AI is also reshaping pharma job titles, creating hybrid roles that combine several functions. ‘AI is allowing a lot of companies to transform some roles and make them more productive, versus hiring routine and repetitive rules-based positions,’ Yoo said. ‘Our clients are asking us more for cross-functional skill sets than maybe a technical expert in just one area.’ Yoo pointed to one company that combined departments after adding AI capabilities, requiring employees to work more cross-functionally. ‘You can call it restructuring, but there was not a single employee that was displaced,’ he said. Drug discovery is the biggest area where life sciences companies will add AI functions and jobs. ‘AI is allowing companies to discover therapies and drugs at a fraction of the cost and resources it took before,’ Yoo said. ‘So there’s a booming demand for AI and machine learning engineering talent, specifically in discovery.’ Commercial analytics roles are also in high demand, with a need for workers who can analyze commercial data and real-world evidence. ‘Any positions and departments that directly affect time-to-market and any type of regulatory success is going to remain in high demand,’ he said. ‘That cross-functional piece, I think, is going to be really important.’ Whether AI will eventually lead to major job losses in pharma remains to be seen, but for now, Yoo believes the industry’s broader focus beyond revenue will help it retain jobs that are being lost in other industries. ‘At companies like Amazon or any tech company, there’s more of a bottom line that you have to prioritize,’ he said. ‘Whereas in pharma, you’re prioritizing therapies, drugs, and patients.’