The Information Technology Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) , which aims to grow to $40 billion revenues and 1.84 million headcount this year, is opposed to a a blanket ban on the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in the country.
Dominic Vincent Ligot, IBPAP head of research and AI in a press conference announcing the the launch of its “With the Philippines” brand on Tuesday, said two legislative measures are proposing some regulations on the use of AI that can potentially affect the industry: one filed by Quezon City 1st District Rep. Juan Carlo Arjo Atayde has filed to regulate (AI) and prevent the technology from replacing humans in the workforce and another byAlbay Rep. Joey Salceda which strengthens the Intellectual Property Code by regulating the use of AI to protect creative work.
This early, IBPAP is laying the groundwork for how the industry can be affected if some regulations are imposed.
He said regulations should cover risks and not curtail innovation .
For Ligot, the Philippines remains a bright spot for AI which he said can augment rather than ease out some jobs along the value chain.
For example, he said, jobs in customer service, for which the Philippines is known for, cannot be automated 100 percent.
Citing experts’ studies, Ligot said AI has increased by 34 percent productivity of less skilled workers in the call center segment.
He said these workers move up the value chain and catch up with their more skilled colleagues. They are able to receive five to 10 times more calls and process more requests when they are assisted by AI.
Ligot, however, admits some creatives are slowly being replaced by AI such as freelance copywriting and graphics as well as design and photography which IBPAP is monitoring closely because it could impact gaming and animation.
In turn, some totally new jobs are created by AI like annotating, content moderation, sentence completion and other manual and menial work.
Ligot said around 45 percent of IBPAP members have said they are experimenting on AI while about a third have deployed AI, mostly agent-assist.
“There will always be room to express empathy and make a judgement and take care of a customer problem,” Ligot said.
In an article for SSRN posted February 6, Ligot said skills are the key to unlocking AI’s value. This can be done by fusing skills across multiple profiles such as domain combined with technical skills.