In the second year of the AI Horizons PH conference, University of the Philippines President Angelo Jimenez urged innovators that AI must serve the many and not merely the few, as innovations showcased the impact of AI’s real world applications in addressing the nation’s most pressing challenges in various industries, sectors and areas of governance.
“What we need is something rare: will,” Jimenez told over 300 leaders from academe, industry, government, and civil society as he opened the conference. “Political will to invest in digital infrastructure. Educational will to transform curricula … Economic will to invest in homegrown innovation, and collective will to ensure that AI serves the many, not merely the few.”
This year’s conference, held Oct. 16-17 in UP Cebu, sought to empower direct engagement with industries and communities most affected by AI transformation — especially with Cebu City as the Philippines’ leading business process outsourcing hub outside Metro Manila.
Amid the changes brought by developments in AI, UP Cebu Chancellor Leo Malagar likewise urged that innovation cannot be sustainable “if it forgets the people for whom it was made.” He continued, “No algorithm is ethical if it serves only the powerful.”
For two days, the conference tackled four critical sectors in its different plenary sessions: BPO and creative industry transformation; public governance and disaster risk reduction management; social good and inclusive growth; and cybersecurity and national security.
Michelle Alarcon, president of the Analytics and Artificial Intelligence Association of the Philippines, opened the first session on BPO and creative industry transformation with her keynote presentation on the Philippine Skills Framework for Analytics and AI as she underscored the importance of building a future-ready national AI workforce by developing and supporting local talent. “We need to build this very strong ecosystem to achieve our own ambitions of having our own sovereign AI,” Alarcon said. “No one else will build this for us except us.”
This was followed by a session exploring AI applications in public governance and disaster risk reduction management — especially urgent following the devastating 6.9-magnitude earthquake which hit Cebu Sept. 30, as well as the recent issues on corruption hounding the country’s flood control and other public infrastructure projects.
Prof. Czar Jakiri Sarmiento, deputy executive director of the UP National Engineering Center, said in his keynote that the use of technology in governance “must amplify human values, not efficiency for its own sake, but fairness, accountability and empathy in public service.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Johanna Patricia Cañal of the UP Philippine General Hospital, opened the session on social good and inclusive growth with a keynote on the transformative developments in radiology and medical imaging because of AI — particularly how they open vast opportunities for research as well as collaboration between medical experts and computer scientists.
“Can you imagine the number of data points we have and all the potential research we can do?” Dr. Cañal asked. “My job is to talk to the computer scientist, to talk to the developer and tell the developer what we need, because that’s precisely where AI can come in and that is where AI will be most useful.”
The last session of the conference addressed cybersecurity and national security. Rowen Gelonga, regional director of the Department of Science and Technology Region VI, delivered the keynote on the AI Development Action Plan of Western Visayas.
Emphasizing the significance of strengthening regional participation in AI research and development, Gelonga called for the democratization and allocation of more resources in the regions. “We really have to prioritize [the] development of AI solutions to address the requirements of the most disadvantaged sectors.”
