From Grassroots Adoption to Industry-Wide Impact

Key Takeaways:

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming industries, yet many organizations struggle with integration. On a beautiful, sunny day in London, Klick’s Julie Turnbull, SVP, Science + Regulatory, was a featured speaker at the “Age of AI, Europe,” hosted by PharmaBrands. Despite the diverse perspectives within the healthcare marketing and communications community on the agenda, one insight stood out: AI fluency must extend beyond a small group of experts to the entire workforce. While many assume AI adoption should be driven from the top down, a recurring theme emerged—success often begins with small groups of passionate AI enthusiasts who spark broader engagement. Without this grassroots momentum, organizations risk falling behind. How was this idea represented throughout the conference? Here are the key themes that emerged:

Key Themes from the 2025 “Age of AI, Europe”

Scaling AI for health equity: AI is being leveraged to automate processes, support clinicians, and help consumers make informed choices. Groundbreaking advancements showcased AI’s potential in the pharma space, but the bigger challenge is scaling AI knowledge and applications to democratize health equity. AI agents, capable of autonomously completing tasks, are already being used in predictive audience building for market research and a myriad of tasks to pursue a 10x efficiency for employees.

AI is more than just tools: While they agree that AI holds immense promise, many organizations face adoption challenges. Some have created internal AI marketplaces and learning platforms, yet usage often remains low outside of a small group of enthusiasts. Companies addressing this challenge focused on improving AI education, providing clear use cases, and demonstrating how AI enhances daily work to obtain buy-in. In some cases, employees have taken the initiative, leveraging publicly available resources to develop proofs of concept, leading to internal AI tools and buy-in from leadership. For some employees, AI served as an “extracurricular” until it could become part of their job description after recognition of its benefits.

Balancing innovation, trust, and compliance: In the pharma space, the medical, regulatory, and legal (MLR) process was a key topic as well as how AI can support MLR teams with the onslaught of content from generative AI (GenAI). MLR teams must feel trust in AI and the people using it. Some organizations have piloted AI-powered tools to streamline MLR review, but trust remains a key factor. Companies testing AI-generated materials across multiple vendors have found this approach valuable for assessing capabilities and building confidence. 

Julie Turnbull’s presentation, “Scaling Innovation While Maintaining Compliance: Leveraging AI for Faster, Smarter Content and Claims Management,” emphasized that AI adoption must be balanced with regulatory and legal considerations to be effective at scale and that the quality of materials into review is critical to help support reviewers. This concept initiated a buzz in the room; a consistent theme was MLR and needing to increase the quality of materials into review and manage the onslaught of content from GenAI.

Small-scale AI pilots can drive big impact: Small-scale experimentation is an effective strategy. Some organizations invest in internal development labs, while others take a more risk-averse approach and rely on external partnerships. Even minor AI proofs of concept, such as using automation to identify conflict-resolution gaps, have demonstrated AI’s power and helped secure leadership buy-in. At Klick, we’ve exemplified this approach through our million-dollar AI competition, incentivizing employees to integrate AI into their workflows. 

AI’s business impact is shifting from quality to speed—and investing in AI literacy is crucial for staying competitive. In 2025, key priorities include AI-ready data, enhanced efficiency, and leveraging AI for competitive intelligence. Success will depend not just on technology but on empowering people to drive innovation to ensure AI becomes a transformative force rather than just another tool.

Curious about how AI can streamline your MLR workflows? Check out Julie’s presentation and follow Klick for more insights into how AI is transforming healthcare marketing.