Agentic AI in production: Merck, Mastercard on what works

Merck says agentic AI is already paying off in production, cutting one discovery cycle by about a third.

The company also says compliant marketing draft turnaround is now 70% to 80% faster.

But Merck stresses that these gains came only after major investment in cloud, data, and security foundations.

The lesson for regulated industries: AI agents need secure, scalable infrastructure and orchestration, not just pilots.