Artificial intelligence (AI) is redefining how we exist in the world. In almost every
sector of society, AI is performing tasks with super-human speed and intellect; from
the prediction of stock market trends to driverless vehicles, diagnosis of disease,
and robotic surgery. Despite this growing success, the pharmaceutical field is yet
to truly harness AI. Development and manufacture of medicines remains largely in a
'one size fits all' paradigm, in which mass-produced, identical formulations are expected
to meet individual patient needs. Recently, 3D printing (3DP) has illuminated a path
for on-demand production of fully customisable medicines. Due to its flexibility,
pharmaceutical 3DP presents innumerable options during formulation development that
generally require expert navigation. Leveraging AI within pharmaceutical 3DP removes
the need for human expertise, as optimal process parameters can be accurately predicted
by machine learning. AI can also be incorporated into a pharmaceutical 3DP 'Internet
of Things', moving the personalised production of medicines into an intelligent, streamlined,
and autonomous pipeline. Supportive infrastructure, such as The Cloud and blockchain,
will also play a vital role. Crucially, these technologies will expedite the use of
pharmaceutical 3DP in clinical settings and drive the global movement towards personalised
medicine and Industry 4.0.