Pfizer has been utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) across our business for some time, but recent advancements in technology combined with advancements in biology are converging to create a scientific renaissance set to transform health as we know it. That reality is already upon us.

According to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, the biggest barrier to unlock this potential is fear of the unknown. "It is not a question of technology," Bourla said in a recent conversation with Nikolai Tangen of the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund, "it is a question of organizational ability to adjust and transform itself through AI." His solution? Investing in AI fluency for Pfizer colleagues.

That insight shapes how Pfizer has approached AI enablement from the start.

The company’s approach to broader adoption of AI across the entire organization has centered on building awareness, curiosity, and comfort with the new technology before asking colleagues to change how they work. The goal is to show up in trusted learning spaces, support individual and collective sensemaking, and design for human needs alongside business outcomes.

Pfizer is not alone. The WEF 2025 jobs report shows that 85% of the employers surveyed plan to prioritize upskilling their workforce, with 63% of employers identifying skills gaps as a major barrier to business transformation over the 2025- 2030 period.1 The landscape is changing, and both employers and employees will need to change with it. That means treating AI as more than a new app or another software update; it’s a brand new skillset for employees and organizations to learn and grow into, together.

Bourla has been part of that journey himself. He completed the same foundational training program that thousands of Pfizer colleagues have completed via an initial pilot program, and that the entire company will have access to starting in June "I saw huge difference in my ability," he said, which serves as a testament to what happens when people actually engage with the tools.

This commitment was formalized with the AI Fluency Development Goal, available to all colleagues as an enterprise-wide development goal that sits alongside yearly performance metrics. Its aim isn’t to measure skill but to develop a baseline capability for employees across the organization, at every level and every function, and to encourage colleagues to maintain and hold themselves accountable as they continue to grow their AI skills.

Resources are available through Pfizer AI Academy, a curated learning platform offering training and certifications for employees at all levels, and colleagues can connect with peers via our shared intranet and various internal communications channels. The program is designed to help everyone level up, and for colleagues to collaborate towards better understanding and utilizing AI tools.

As AI becomes part of everyday work, the emphasis shifts from awareness of and comfort with the technology to leveraging it in service of Pfizer’s ultimate goal: to create breakthroughs that change patients' lives.

Pfizer is building that ability, and empowering our colleagues with it, from the ground up.

Watch Albert Bourla's full conversation with Nikolai Tangen on In Good Company below, and listen wherever you get your podcasts.