Philips: Rolling Out AI to 70,000 Employees

How Philips Scaled AI Literacy Across the Enterprise

This is Philips sharing their enterprise AI rollout strategy - short but packed with practical insights for any large organization deploying AI.

The progression: play → work → innovate. Philips frames AI adoption as a journey: "You start playing with it, then you start working with it, and from there you start innovating with it." They started deploying ChatGPT Enterprise to a few thousand users to see how they'd adopt it before broader rollout.

AI isn't new to Philips, but generative AI requires different skills. They have AI embedded in many products and specialized ML teams, but recognized the need to "elevate AI literacy across all 70,000 employees." Traditional AI expertise doesn't automatically transfer to effective use of LLMs.

"I personally trained all the ExCo members." The executive emphasizes top-down adoption: "They need to use this tool." When leadership uses the tool, it signals organizational priority.

Gamification solved the license scarcity problem. Limited licenses created demand - people wanted access. Solution: "Sign up for the summer challenge. Come with your brightest idea on where AI could play a role for the company and the best ones will win a license." This surfaced use cases across the organization while building excitement.

The healthcare case for AI is visceral. "I was in a hospital where they had an emergency case... the clinician spent 15 minutes in the cath lab to save a human's life and after that they have to do an equivalent amount of administration. He could save two lives in that same time." The administrative burden on healthcare practitioners is the problem AI can solve.

7 Insights From Philips on Enterprise AI Adoption

• Play → Work → Innovate - Three-stage AI adoption journey
• Limited rollout first - Few thousand users to test adoption patterns
• Executive training required - "I personally trained all ExCo members"
• Gamify license distribution - Summer challenge: best AI ideas win access
• 70,000 employees - Scale of AI literacy effort
• Healthcare admin burden - 15 min to save life, 15 min paperwork; AI can give time back
• Existing AI vs LLM skills - Specialized ML teams need different upskilling for generative AI

What This Means for Healthcare AI Transformation

A healthcare company with 70,000 employees is rolling out AI literacy with gamification and executive training. The case is visceral: a clinician spends 15 minutes saving a life and 15 minutes on paperwork. AI could double the lives saved. That's the promise - if enterprises can actually execute the transformation.