Review of JPM 2026 – AI as Plumbing

The vibe shift: from “AI as differentiator” to “AI as plumbing”

A useful way to interpret JPM 2026 is this: the market is pricing AI like electricity, not like magic.

Yes, AI remains central to the narrative. But the conversations increasingly revolve around questions like:

• What part of the discovery workflow are you replacing vs. augmenting?
• What evidence shows you shorten cycle time or improve hit rates—not just benchmark scores?
• How do you deploy safely across teams, sites, and partners?
• What’s your compliance posture if regulators ask “how did this model influence this decision?”

That’s not anti-AI sentiment. It’s the industry growing up.

And for AI-native biotechs, it’s a strategic opportunity: the winners won’t be the loudest model claims—they’ll be the teams that can turn AI into a repeatable, auditable, scalable operating capability.