Your AI pilot isn't dying because of the model.
AI-powered field pilots across life sciences are stalling, being scaled back, or restarting at a higher rate than ever. Leaders who got theirs into production were blunt about why: the technology was rarely the part that failed. The conditions around it were.
Sound familiar?
Panelists at Axtria Ignite 2026 named three tensions that trip projects up:
- The budget conversation
Executives want headcount reduction and lower operating expenses. Your foundation can't promise that yet.
- The number that doesn't add up
A reported 6% lift doesn't reconcile with the results you're seeing.
- The metric that misses the point
Logins and adoption rates don't tell you if the program works. The closed loop that would prove it is usually built last.
Inside the report: a four-layer trust framework
Trust is built in layers to move AI-powered field pilots to production.
| 01 |
The data underneath
Foundational data, connected for the AI use case. |
Your foundation |
| 02 |
Explainability before sophistication
What a rep needs before they'll act. |
Coaching layer |
| 03 |
Guardrails, decision, lineage, and the governance fear
Guardrails need a workflow, not just a policy. |
Defensibility |
| 04 |
Proving it works
Why adoption metrics don’t agree with your budget. |
Your budget case |
“I struggle when our advanced analytics team shows up and says that dynamic targeting drove sales by 6%. Because then I look at the stock and I look at where we are, and I’m like, that doesn’t match up.” - Panel Member
What separates a stalled pilot from a funded one
What keeps a pilot stuck
- Selling return-on-investment (ROI) before the foundation supports it
- Letting logins and adoption stand in for impact
- Reporting lift with no way to reconcile it
What got three programs into production
- Selling what the foundation enables next
- Pairing hard numbers with direct rep feedback
- Building in the measurement loop from day one
Get the full report
Three industry leaders, on the record, about what got their AI programs into production.
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