In recent days, there has been a global eruption of interest in the future of AI (robotics) and civilization, largely occasioned by Elon Musk’s statements across interviews and social media.
The economic impact of AI is well understood by a few global leaders such as Jensen, Sam, and Elon. The growing challenge and opportunity for Kenyan businesses is to understand this impact more deeply and learn how to position themselves to benefit from it.
“If I could, I would certainly slow down AI and robotics, but I can’t,” Elon says in an interview on the Katie Miller podcast.
To understand what’s really happening, we must get to the heart of the matter. With this in mind, I prompted ChatGPT to tell me five ways AI can be used in the pharmacy ecosystem.
This is because I don’t like hearing the idea that I will be replaced by a robot. Many people are also not prepared for the idea that they may have to leave the 9–5 jobs they have grown addicted to.
The real question is: what would you do with your free time?
What AI offers feels like paradise something I never imagined would be prescribed to us this way, by the predictions of a rich billionaire.
Tell me, who doesn’t want the following:
- Not having to work
- Being provided with all goods and services one could possibly want
- Or work becoming optional
There would be an abundance of time to venture into meaningful activities, such as spending time with loved ones and travelling to great places.
But before that time arrives, AI can be used today as a companion. We should see it as a tool that makes work easier.
That is why I asked AI to explain how it could be useful in the pharmacy sector.
This is what I got:
AI can support pharmacists with instant, standardized counselling prompts covering dosage, side effects, interactions, and lifestyle advice ensuring every patient receives the same high-quality information, regardless of who is on duty.
AI systems can flag potential drug–drug interactions, duplicate therapies, dosing errors (age, weight, renal function), and allergy risks in real time, acting as a second safety net before dispensing.
By analyzing sales trends, seasonality, disease outbreaks, and prescribing patterns, AI can help pharmacies predict stock needs, reduce expiries, prevent stock-outs, and improve cash flow.
AI can automate refill reminders, adherence nudges, chronic disease check-ins, and health education messages turning the pharmacy into a continuous care partner rather than just a point of sale.
From staff scheduling and workflow optimization to identifying high-margin products and underperforming categories, AI can help pharmacy owners make better decisions faster while freeing pharmacists to focus on patient care.
There is a lot to unpack here, but first, let’s look at the day-to-day operations of a real pharmacy environment:
- Cleaning the store, including dusting shelves
- Billing and collecting cash from patients
- Dispensing medicines and writing prescription labels
- Picking client calls
- Interacting with clients online or through WhatsApp
- Receiving stock from suppliers
- Posting stock into inventory systems, including updating batches and expiries
- Pre-packing medicines and counting tablets
- Clinical monitoring
- Responding to questions from hospital clinicians
- Over-the-counter consultations
- Regulatory compliance
- Pharmacovigilance
So what are the findings when we compare this to what AI can do?
- Most tasks pharmacists perform today are already within AI’s capabilities. This means one pharmacist could potentially do the work of ten, freeing up a significant amount of time.
- Clinicians who consult pharmacists for critical dosing and treatment regimens may eventually bypass pharmacists altogether, since AI can provide faster and more accurate answers.
- Pharmaceutical technologists may still have more hands-on roles, but AI will make their work easier and free up time for other activities.
- Most pharmacy operations will be optimized, but overall, the pharmacy profession appears set to decline.
Way forward
There are many aspects of the profession that pharmacists take pride in designing patient regimens, joining clinicians on ward rounds, discussing medication therapy, and pharmacovigilance. In the coming years, much of this may slowly disappear.
This will leave pharmacists and pharmaceutical technologists with more free time, even for those who remain employed.
However, most employers are uncomfortable seeing staff idle. Employees are often expected to be doing something, even when there is little to do.
So, is it possible to create an environment where professionals can express their skills without the constant pressure of productivity?
The answer remains: it depends.
Some pharmacies remain extremely busy, with staff in a continuous loop of pulling medicines from cabinets and dispensing until the shift ends. Others enjoy long idle hours and get busy only at rush hours.
Crowded pharmacies may remain so for a long time, until the idea of filling prescriptions online becomes widely accepted. That shift is still far away.
So how are pharmacists surviving?
To be honest, I don’t fully understand the logic behind how pharmacists are aligning themselves with the AI effect, but I am observing the following:
- Some are taking up part-time jobs
- Others are doing remote work
- A group is moving into consulting
- Many are enrolling in nursing, public health, or business administration
The future, then, is not really about whether AI will replace pharmacists, but about how pharmacists will redefine their value in a world where thinking, checking, and predicting are no longer uniquely human tasks. Time, once scarce, may become the most abundant resource, and how it is used will matter more than titles, shifts, or job descriptions. Those who wait for clarity may be overtaken by it, while those who engage early, experiment, and adapt may discover that AI does not erase professional identity but forces it to evolve. Whether this transition leads to decline or renewal will depend less on the technology itself and more on how willing we are to rethink what meaningful work looks like in the age of intelligent machines.
I am interested to see how this will look over the next ten years.