Which industries could benefit the most from AI integration?

July 07, 2025

by a searcher in Toronto, ON, Canada

I'm currently in the pharma space and there are clear use cases there before we even get anywhere close to drug discovery (e.g. regulatory documentation). Any other industries you see benefitting enormously from better automation and having cultures more open to it?

4 Likes

9 Replies

140 Views

Replies

Reply by a searcher
in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Thanks for tagging me, Luke. Hi Nate, Apologies for long response without a definitive answer. I usually refer to macro reports from publishing houses to get a sense of the current state of AI and possibly the future impact (such as this recent report from McKinsey: https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/quantumblack/our-insights/the-state-of-ai). Most reports suggests that big houses are adopting AI across "common" business functions with variable success. For heuristic approximation I may correlate the dependence of an industry on a given business function. It is more of a guidance, with no real prediction power. Generative AI (including LLM) is a foundational technology with opportunities across functions, that has become widely and easily accessible. Given your AI/ML developer and trainer background, you must be well aware of the next layer of building blocks that have evolved with RAG, Agents, MCP options. It continues to stack up! You can expect gradual but relentless benefits accruing in most industries that use digital technology (next 3-5 years). These benefits will lie behind the endpoints offered by AI/SaaS providers (with or without AI). It seems current state Gen AI has some nuanced problems (governance, predictable outcomes, depth of reasoning, end-to-end solutions) that place some upper limits. Breaking these limits requires workflow engineering and human inputs to assist AI, hence the benefits will trickle gradually. Since you are going to make decisions on acquiring your first business (assuming your reason for posting), the strength of the acquisition and commercial decisions will matter more than the benefits of AI within the industry. For an individual business, I may identify opportunities created by new AI/SaaS offerings. Analyze and experiment how it can improve micro processes/SOPs to benefit the business. If it makes commercial sense, then use it. Diligence on cost-benefits and alternatives can be used if the decision is hard. I am in the same boat with you :-). I hope the answer is directed towards the intent of your post. If not, DM me and we can connect. Best wishes, RK!

Reply by an investor
from Concordia University in Montreal, QC, Canada

AI pays off fastest where there is too much paperwork, tight turn-times, and regulators on your back. Think legal: junior lawyers grind through stacks of contracts, an AI reviewer finishes in hours, the firm keeps its margin. Energy is the same story. Predict transformer failures before they happen, keep the lights on, fund more renewables. You can copy-paste that idea into a pharma plant—catch a batch drift early, release product sooner. Logistics, factories, even farms are already cashing in. Algorithms schedule ship repairs and save Maersk real money. Vision systems on assembly lines spot flaws people miss. Crop drones spray only the weeds, not whole fields. Moral: treat AI as a cash-flow tool, not a moon shot. Fix the boring bottlenecks first, pocket the savings, then chase the big ideas.

+7 more replies.

Join the discussion