company

Merck & Co., Inc.

Pharmaceuticals / Biopharmaceuticals
75Good
Aio Composite Score
Confidence
ApplicationHeavy
high
ImpactMixed
medium
OpennessTransparent
high
Merck & Co. is an aggressive AI adopter across its pharmaceutical R&D, manufacturing, and regulatory functions, having deployed a proprietary generative AI platform (GPTeal) to over 50,000 employees and using LLMs to accelerate clinical study report authoring from weeks to days. Its 10-K filings formally disclose growing AI use while acknowledging associated risks around bias, data protection, and regulatory compliance. The company simultaneously announced 6,000 job cuts (~8% of workforce) as part of a $3 billion cost-savings restructuring, though no direct causal link between AI adoption and the layoffs has been evidenced in public sources. Merck has also established a formal Digital Ethics Advisory Panel and Code of Digital Ethics, signaling meaningful investment in AI governance.
Application
How is AI being used?
Heavy
high
Merck has deployed a company-wide generative AI platform (GPTeal) to over 50,000 employees, integrated LLMs directly into regulated clinical study…
Impact
How have people been affected?
Mixed
medium
Merck reports significant positive operational outcomes from AI — halved error rates and dramatically reduced CSR authoring time — which represent…
Openness
Company honesty about AI use.
Transparent
high
Merck's public statements, SEC risk disclosures, formal press releases on AI expansion, and academic publications about its Digital Ethics Advisory…
AI Tools & Platforms Detected
GPTeal (proprietary internal LLM platform)myGPT (earlier internal LLM chatbot, Merck KGaA/Group)OpenAI ChatGPT (via GPTeal)Meta Llama (via GPTeal)Anthropic Claude (via GPTeal)KERMT (open-source small-molecule drug discovery model, with NVIDIA)McKinsey QuantumBlack (AI-assisted clinical study report authoring)BenevolentAI (AI drug discovery platform partnership)Exscientia (AI drug development partnership)
AI Hiringmoderate
16AI roles/ 2176 total
Associate Director, Data Science - Neuroscience Biomarker DiscoveryAssociate Director, Data Science - Neurodegenerative Causal Biology2026 Future Talent Program - Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Generative AI Research Intern2026 Future Talent Program - Image Data Analytics InternCybersecurity AI Engineer (Sr. Scientist) – ML & Insights
Key Evidence (11)
Merck deployed GPTeal, a proprietary gated LLM platform integrating ChatGPT, Llama, and Claude, used by over 50,000 of ~75,000 employees for tasks including drafting regulatory documents and summarizing research.
2026-02-22
web searchSource ↗
In collaboration with McKinsey's QuantumBlack, Merck used generative AI to produce draft clinical study reports in 3–4 days instead of 2–3 weeks; human-reviewed drafting hours fell from ~180 to ~80 per report, and error rates were cut roughly in half.
2026-02-22
web searchSource ↗
In June 2025, Merck formally announced expansion of generative AI solutions, confirming the first live AI-assisted clinical study reports had been submitted to regulators and the platform was scaling across the late-phase pipeline.
2025-06
web searchSource ↗
Merck's 2025 10-K formally discloses increasing use of AI systems to automate processes, analyze data, and support decision-making, and lists AI as a named risk factor including risks of bias, regulatory non-compliance with the EU AI Act, and inadvertent IP disclosure.
2026-02-24
sec filingSource ↗
Merck's 2024 10-K also identifies AI use as a risk factor, noting growing use of AI systems for automation, analysis, and decision-making, with risks including flaws, biases, and malfunctions.
2025-02-25
sec filingSource ↗
Merck's Data, AI & Genome Sciences Department is actively hiring Associate Directors for Data Science roles in neuroscience biomarker discovery and neurodegenerative causal biology, and is recruiting NLP and Generative AI Research Interns.
2026-02-03
job postingSource ↗
What insider reports could clarify
  • Have any specific roles or teams been formally replaced by AI tooling rather than re-hired after the layoffs?
  • How are AI-generated clinical study reports reviewed by humans before regulatory submission?
  • Do employees feel the GPTeal platform is mandatory or optional for their daily work?
  • Are AI-generated outputs in drug discovery decisions subject to independent scientific validation?
  • How does the Digital Ethics Advisory Panel handle employee concerns about AI-driven job displacement?
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