Manila: The Philippines senate will look into how new technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), could impact jobs in the country, amid growing apprehension abroad.
In a statement, Senator Bam Aquino said the Senate Committee on Science and Technology, which he chairs, will conduct a probe into the matter to determine the effects on local jobs, particularly business process outsourcing (BPO).
Aquino filed Senate Resolution No 344, to conduct an inquiry on the government’s plan and initiatives to maximise the benefits of developments in artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.
“We want to know what the effect of artificial intelligence to employment in the BPO or call centre sector,” he said.
The BPO industry had grown by leaps and bounds over the last 12 years, providing employment to tens and thousands of Filipinos and contributing to the country’s economy.
However, this growth and the jobs of those employed in the sector could be placed in jeopardy if AI takes over jobs normally performed by humans.
“Every job created for Filipinos is important. We have to guard against trends that will take jobs away from our countrymen,” said Aquino.
The senator, in particular, expressed alarm over the growing use of Chatbots and the emergence of systems capable of referring questions to human operators and learning from their responses.
“These systems use artificial intelligence and are capable of performing the tasks of human employees, putting their livelihood at risk, especially in the call centre industry,” the Senator said.
He pointed out that in 2016, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) reported that 49 per cent of all employment in the Philippines faces a high risk of automation in the next couple of decades.
Based on research conducted by International Data Corporation (IDC), around $47 billion (Dh172.6 billion) will be spent on AI-related applications globally by 2020, especially in the banking, health care and retail sectors.
According to Jubert Daniel Alberto of IDC Philippines, the rise of AI will definitely affect the BPO industry that currently employs around 1.2 million Filipinos.
