Mark Villar commends PBBM for spearheading PH gov't efforts in AI, cybersecurity

Senator Mark Villar commended President Marcos for spearheading the country’s efforts in securing partnerships on artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity from Silicon Valley companies.

However, he emphasized that an up-to-date framework for AI is of significance to level the playing field for Filipinos especially now that the country’s digital infrastructure remains underdeveloped and unsupervised.

He also noted that the Philippines has a lot of work to do for the adoption of AI as no other measure or action has been made for its regulation or development except for the 2019 Philippine AI Roadmap.

“Marami na pong developments (There have been a lot of developments) with AI in the past four years since the 2019 Roadmap. It has since boomed into heightened use across different sectors. Panahon na po na magkaroon na tayo ng (It's time we have a) framework regulating the use and development of AI para sa kapakanan ng mga empleyado ng mga industriya na gumagamit ng AI (for the sake of employees and industries utilizing AI),” Villar said.

In line with this, Villar filed Senate Resolution No. 588, directing the proper Senate committee to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the emerging use of artificial intelligence in different sectors and/or industries, and for the establishment of a framework related to the adoption, promotion, development, and fair use of AI in the Philippines.

“As the Philippines embraces the use of AI in various day-to-day activities, a substantial part of this technology still remains unchartered. Wala pa po tayong idea how to properly approach AI in terms of the regulation of its use. With this resolution, we are hoping that the Senate inquiry will bring light to information about AI that we can use to build a legal framework,” Villar added.

The senator looks forward to the success of the partnership, he also hopes to look into the impact of AI on the daily lives of Filipinos as he recognizes both the risks and opportunities brought by AI technology. He emphasized that while AI has the potential to augment human capabilities, increase efficiency and accuracy, and eliminate manual labor, the technology also possesses the possibility of job displacement, widening of income inequalities, as well as the exacerbation of biases.

“Hindi lamang po ang pagkakaroon ng legal framework ang ating titingnan (We're not only looking at having a legal framework). We will also look into how it affects the daily lives of Filipinos. Does AI widen the unemployment of our countrymen? Paano ba ito makakatulong sa mga tao? Where do we draw the line between the helpful use of AI and its compromission?,” Senator Mark highlighted.

“With the booming use of AI in different sectors, kailangan natin ng increased partnerships with experienced professionals so we’ll know how to properly deal with AI, especially now na wala pa po tayong legal framework for this novel technology all the while its use has spread throughout,” he added.