Agentic AI in Life Sciences Discovery

Agentic AI refers to intelligent systems that understand their industry, can devise plans on their own, set goals, and execute strategies without constant human oversight. Unlike generative AI, which relies heavily on human prompts to generate content, agentic AI operates independently, making decisions and taking actions based on real-time data and predefined objectives.

A study by the Wharton School (Wharton AI & Analytics Initiative 2025) and Accenture assessed the potential impact AI agents and robots may have on the life sciences industry. By performing a bottom-up analysis, the study found that approximately 50% of hours spent in research & development (R&D) will be impacted by the emergence of AI agents and robots.

The whitepaper explains how agentic AI can accelerate and enhance early life sciences discovery by empowering scientists and broadening access to data, and describes how Accenture and AWS can jointly support this transformation in life sciences R&D.