The Future of Collaboration: How AI is Supplementing Teamwork and Innovation at P&G

At P&G, we're constantly exploring new ways to innovate and deliver solutions that improve lives for the billions of people who use our products every day. P&G employees have long used these digital tools to accelerate our innovation process, bringing forward new offerings with unprecedented speed and efficiency.

We wanted to understand the impact of AI on our organization as a whole and what would happen when we invited AI to “join our team.” Our recent collaboration with Harvard Business School’s (HBS) Digital Data Design (D^3) Institute and Wharton Business School Artificial Intelligence Innovation Network allowed us to conduct a live hackathon. It was comprised of P&G professionals responding to real business challenges our brands face to identify effective solutions across the business.

The results were eye-opening. Here is what we found:

1. AI Can Be a Great “Teammate”: Research validates our approach, revealing that teams working with AI were about 12% faster. Even further, the combination of human collaboration and AI creates opportunities that enable peak performance, suggesting that the best results come from working with AI, not replacing human interaction.
   
   

2. AI Breaks Down Silos and Allows for Shared Expertise: Through the study, it was evident that AI helped professionals from different backgrounds develop more balanced solutions, regardless of their individual expertise. Different departments naturally produce different perspectives, and AI can help bridge these gaps across the organization.
   
   

3. AI’s Positive Influence on Employee Morale: Beyond boosting efficiency and performance, AI showed a positive impact on the employee experience. Research demonstrated that the language-based interface of AI prompted more positive emotional responses from participants.
   
   

Why it Matters: Integrating AI into teams improves capability, collaboration and the employee experience. When employees are more engaged and better-connected, we see unique, breakthrough solutions that effectively address people’s toughest challenges — from tackling stubborn stains and keeping babies dry, to getting dishes clean and using less water. And, we’re able to bring them to market faster.

"This study affirms what we've long suspected: AI is a game-changer for innovation. Whether employees are brainstorming solo or collaborating with others, AI provides a powerful boost, unlocking new ideas and accelerating our speed to innovation. We look forward to continuing to test AI in product development exploration and the powerful impact we’ll be able to unlock," said P&G Chief R&D and Innovation Officer, Victor Aguilar.

To make the biggest impact, it’s critical to ensure everyone knows how best to integrate the latest technology into their daily work with their teams. “We continue to invest in training to ensure all employees become more proficient using AI technology in their respective roles to increase their impact,” said P&G Chief Information Officer Seth Cohen.

“Through continued collaboration with the Harvard Business School’s (HBS) Digital Data Design (D^3) Institute, we’ll continue to incorporate new ways to leverage digital tools to improve our operations, our products and our business.”

For an in-depth look at the findings from the collaborative study, view the full paper here.