'Heineken sees this as a necessity in the current world – if we don’t do it, then somebody else will' - Heineken chief AI officer Surajeet Ghosh speaks to Global Drinks Intel - Part II

‘Heineken sees this as a necessity in the current world – if we don’t do it, then somebody else will’ – Heineken chief AI officer Surajeet Ghosh speaks to Global Drinks Intel – Part II

Last updated: 20/04/2026 at 3:37 PM

By Olly Wehring

8 April 2026

6 Min Read

‘We need Heineken employees to be capable of solving complex problems as they occur now and in the future. If I don’t build that core capability of science, engineering and the tech, then we’ll never be able to get there.’

In the second part of our exclusive interview with Heineken's chief AI officer, Surajeet Ghosh (below) shares his thoughts on the company's employees' view of AI, the costs involved and whether new tech is immune from cost-saving reviews. Head here for the first part of this interview Is your approach to implementing AI into Heineken's business practices resource-intensive? Initially, when we’re setting up, yes. As we get towards the models being built, we need people to monitor those models and update them. We're not building a new model every time. Broadly speaking, the R