THE Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) is preparing for the potential effects of artificial intelligence (AI) development as it may lead to job displacement and disruptions among the Filipino workforce.
“People ask me, ‘Will AI replace a person in his job?’ The way I see it, no. AI will not replace the person. What will replace the person is another person who knows how to use AI. That’s why it’s critical that we, by understanding how AI works, should learn how to leverage it, how to use it in order to empower our workforce and our people,” said DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy.
The DICT chief believes this can be addressed by teaching and training workers to work with AI so they can adapt.
“May mawawalan ng trabaho but merong walang trabaho na magkakatrabaho so importante na we have to train our people, we have to re-skill them, retool them so that they become adept at utilizing AI as a tool rather than being enslaved by AI,” he said.
Uy explained that AI is changing the way things are being done.
“This disruptive technology will have a very significant effect on our labor force, on our workforce, and we need to build up our digital work force on how they will have to work with AI in the future and in order to secure our current status,” Uy said.
Uy then urged the government to regulate AI as AI “lacks humanity.”
“I think the AI revolution is progressing at a much faster, much bigger scale than anyone ever anticipated or dreamed of. AI is emotionless, it does not adhere to morality or ethics, it’s pure logic and intelligence, and that is a cause of concern,” Uy said.
“Without proper regulation by government, it could become dangerous, it could become destructive as it evolves. And it’s evolving very very fast,” Uy added. (ABS-CBN News)
