Artificial intelligence is redrawing the boundaries of what’s possible in drug development. For decades, the pharma business model has been built on delivering human intelligence as a service. Study teams from CROs, sites and sponsors have been the backbone of this system, meticulously managing studies through complex, manual and highly inefficient workflows. As a result, studies take years to complete and slow the introduction of new medicines for patients. But that era is now giving way to the age of the AIQ.
What Is AIQ?
AIQ, or Artificial Intelligence Quotient, is a measure of how much of your organization’s operations are augmented or replaced by AI. It is the ratio of machine-enabled work to human-led effort across the clinical trial value chain. Right now, our industry is operating at an AIQ near zero. But I believe that won’t last long.
Why Your Patients Are Leaving and How to Stop It
Patient expectations continue to evolve, and healthcare practices that fail to adapt risk more than just revenue—they risk losing trust.
Why? Because clinical research as we know it simply doesn’t scale. The volume of trials is exploding, new modalities are entering the pipeline, and expectations for faster, cheaper, higher-quality execution are rising. The traditional playbook of hiring more people and expecting them to work harder isn’t cutting it. The path forward is to augment human capacity by shifting the ratio of people to AI in clinical development.
We are entering the age of abundance in clinical trials
For the first time, we have the tools to scale trials like never before. The problem is no longer scientific discovery. With technologies like AlphaFold and AI-powered drug design, the bottleneck has shifted to trial execution. We now face a massive mismatch between the potential of modern drug discovery and the operational capacity of the clinical research ecosystem.
In this new age of abundance, we won’t be talking about a single moonshot. We’ll be talking about hundreds, maybe thousands, of shots on goal. I believe we’ll be running more trials, in more indications, with more precision. But we do not have the workforce, the time, or the economics to do it the old way.
Changes in Nurse Staffing Answer Clinician Demands
The ongoing nursing shortage facilitates high turnover rates since nurses know they won’t have difficulties finding new jobs. In order to retain and attract staff, it’s in a facility’s best interest to understand what nurses want.
AIQ in action
Let’s be blunt: the average CRO, sponsor, and site is operating with an AIQ of zero. Yes, they may have adopted some tools such as an e-clinical system here or a scheduling platform there, but these are disconnected, incremental systems that are often as much of a burden on the user as a blessing. But they are not a strategy.
The answer is to embed AI “teammates” (also known as agents) across the service stack, from project management to data ops to monitoring. These systems work alongside humans to automate traditional manual workflows and thereby improve bandwidth across site staff to enable more patient-facing time. Overhead such study setup and maintenance, as well as other aspects of broader study execution, can be cut by as much as 80%, while improving quality and speed at every step.
Far from replacing staff, as is often feared, AI teammates will support clinical research coordinators by streamlining administrative burden, improving both quality and protocol adherence, and enabling seamless multitasking across studies. A higher AIQ ratio enables small teams to handle far more clinical research loads than would otherwise be possible.
The implications of AIQ
As noted, raising AIQ isn’t about replacing people. It’s about empowering them. Here’s what happens when companies start shifting their ratio:
- Efficiency gains – AI takes on repetitive tasks like query resolution, document management, and compliance tracking, freeing up human talent to focus on strategic decisions and higher-order problem solving.
- Scalability – Organizations with higher AIQ can run more trials with the same headcount. That means less overhead and more shots on goal.
- Competitive advantage – Sponsors are already demanding faster timelines and cleaner data. CROs and sites with higher AIQ will deliver on these expectations.
- New business models – Real-time dashboards, predictive analytics, and proactive quality control, all leading to greater transparency and quality, as well as a more agile business model. None of this is possible at AIQ zero but they eventually become feasible, and possibly even table stakes, as an organization’s AIQ rises.
Raising AIQ Is a strategic imperative
I believe that this is not a linear transformation, nor is it optional. The organizations that raise their AIQ now will define the future of clinical research. Those that don’t will fall behind.
The companies that raise their AIQ will gain capacity without hiring, improve quality and reduce error rates, unlock real-time insights for faster, better decisions, and become magnets for partnerships and capital investment. And most importantly, they will be the ones positioned to lead in the age of abundance.
From moonshots to momentum
The idea of betting big on one drug at a time (the “moonshot” model) is going to become obsolete with higher AIQs as companies will no longer have to make that tradeoff. Opus Genetics is the perfect example. They can pursue multiple programs, iterate faster, and get to answers sooner. That’s what the next generation of biotech companies will demand.
They also don’t need to automate 80% of workflows to see value. In our experience, the inflection point begins around 20-25% automation. That’s when organizations start freeing up team capacity and improving consistency.
And that’s achievable now. The technology exists and the urgency is real. The only thing that remains is the commitment to shift.
AIQ Is the future of clinical research
AIQ is not just about adopting a new technology. We’re talking about a fundamentally different way of thinking. A shift in what’s possible in clinical research, and a new standard for execution.
The gap between those who raise their AIQ and those who don’t won’t be narrow but more akin to a chasm. I believe now is the time for organizations to consider what their future in the era of human augmentation through AI teammates will look like.
Photo: lvcandy, Getty Images
Ram Yalamanchiliis the CEO and Co-founder of Tilda Research. He believes the future of clinical research is through augmentation with AI teammates, and that we are just getting started.
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