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Day: September 12, 2023

PHILIPPINE companies should take advantage of artificial intelligence (AI) to benefit industries such as retail and outsourcing, according to an industry expert. “In the Philippines, AI is going to replace jobs. So, let’s accept that. The Philippines should become the country that leads the world in how to use AI, in call centers, recognizing that it will put some people out of work, but at least you define the rules of how it works with people,” Asia School of Business (ASB) President, Chief Executive Officer, and Dean Sanjay Sarma said during a media roundtable in Makati City last week.

“It has to be a national effort. The government needs to be really cognizant that this is an epic moment. It’s like, climate change is going to damage the environment, it’ll hurt a lot of people. This is ‘technology change,’ just like climate change,” he added. According to Mr. Sarma, industries that could benefit from AI in generating profit include those in the service sectors such as banking, retail, and customer service. “We spend a lot of time talking, trying to figure things out. AI can automate that,” he said.

Mr. Sarma added that companies only have one to two years to upskill their workers before AI replaces other jobs. “It’s not very long. It’s one or two years. The reason is that for these transforming technologies, there are now lots of companies working. And there’s hundreds of millions of dollars being spent on it,” Mr. Sarma said. Meanwhile, Mr. Sarma said workers should focus on upskilling to perform jobs that technology cannot accomplish such as planning and dispute resolution.

“You have to really figure out what the technology can do and what humans can do, and what technology can’t do. And to develop human capital in those directions,” Mr. Sarma said. “It takes a very careful analysis of the local labor economy. Combined with a very careful analysis of the needs of companies and education or development, put policy incentives, institutions, to let people move from where they are to where they need to be,” he added.

Recently, the International Data Corp. said the Philippines ranked 12th out of 14 economies across the Asia-Pacific region in terms of AI adoption for business and consumer transactions. The Philippines trailed other countries such as China, Japan, Australia, South Korea, Singapore, India, Taiwan, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Thailand. Previously, the Trade department projected that AI could contribute as much as $90 billion to the country’s economy by 2030.

ASB, established in 2015 by Bank Negara Malaysia in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management, seeks to be a premier business school that is committed to “developing transformative and principled leaders who will create a positive impact in the emerging world and beyond.” — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

Originally published by Business World.

The rapid progression in the development and application of artificial intelligence (AI) can no longer be denied or ignored and Philippine corporations may have to adjust or be left behind. Sanjay Sarma president, CEO and dean of the Asia School of Business, said AI is going to replace jobs. However, he said the Philippines should emerge the country that leads the world on how to use AI, at least in call centers.

“It will put some people out of work, but at least you define the rules of how it works,” Sarma said. “In the Philippines, it has to be a national effort. The government needs to be really, really, really cognizant, that this is an epic moment. It’s like, you know, climate change is going to damage the environment, it’ll hurt a lot of people, this is going to hurt a lot of people. This is technology change, just like climate change.”

Sarma, also a professor of mechanical engineering and the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said AI is developing at an unprecedented pace and will be everywhere soon. “I’m telling you. It’s not 10 years; its one or two years. The reason is that for these transforming technologies, there are now lots of companies working. And there’s millions, hundreds of millions of dollars being spent on it,” he said.

While older and successfully adopted technologies such as automated teller machines took about 15 years to be widely accepted, people no longer have the luxury of time with AI. In the case of ATMs, Sarma said the immediate concern was that bank tellers would lose their jobs. “But that did not happen. In fact, bank tellers did something more advanced, which is selling mortgages and things like that.

The job changed. So they had to become cognitive. They did the more cognitively advanced tasks and ATMs did the cash. But it took 10 years or 15 years. The problem here is moving very fast.” “I mean, chat GPT only appeared in December or November 2022. We are now in September 2023. It now has more than 100 million users,” he said.

To adapt to changes that will be brought by the use of AI, Sarma said local industries like the business process outsourcing sector will need to upgrade more into the technology space. “You can’t be at this level, you have to go up, because the attack comes from below. It’s like a tiger, you know, it’s chasing you, you climb a tree, the tiger learns to climb the first 10 feet, well, you have to climb higher. So you have to go higher up in the cognitive stock to go higher,” he said.

Sarma is a leading authority in AI, Internet of things and education. The ASB, established in 2015 by Bank Negara Malaysia in collaboration with MIT Sloan School of Management, aims to be a premier business school that develops transformative and principled leaders who will contribute to the advancement of the emerging world, particularly in Asia. He teaches there alongside Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Eli Remolona.

Originally published by Business Mirror.