Philippine chief executives are among the world’s most confident adopters of artificial intelligence (AI), with many already relying on AI-generated insights for major business decisions amid the rapid transformation of corporate leadership structures, according to a new study by tech giant IBM.

In a report released on Tuesday, May 12, IBM’s Institute for Business Value said 80 percent of Philippine chief executive officers (CEOs) surveyed are comfortable using AI-generated insights to help make major strategic decisions, significantly higher than the 64-percent global average.

The study also showed that 73 percent of Philippine executives believe tactical and operational decisions can be made faster and more effectively by AI than by humans, compared to the 57-percent global average.

IBM said the findings reflect how Philippine firms are accelerating the shift toward AI-driven operating models while rethinking traditional leadership structures and decision-making systems.

“The CEO’s role has always been to lead through disruption. What AI changes is the velocity and consequences of leadership. Enterprises that succeed will operate AI-first—not as a layer of technology, but as a new operating model. Decision cycles will compress. Boundaries between functions will dissolve. Advantage will accrue to those who can learn, adapt, and execute faster than their competitors,” said Gary Cohn, vice chairman of IBM, in the study’s foreword.

The annual IBM CEO study surveyed 2,000 CEOs and senior executives across 33 geographies and 21 industries from February to April 2026.

According to the report, 97 percent of Philippine CEOs surveyed believe rapid pivoting is now more important than maintaining long-term approaches, while 93 percent said competitive conditions are changing faster than their organizations can fully implement processes and budgets.

Meanwhile, 97 percent of Philippine executives said all functional leaders must become technology experts within their respective domains.

The study also highlighted the growing importance of AI-focused executive positions, with Philippine organizations expecting the influence of chief AI officers to expand further through 2030.

At the same time, 53 percent of Philippine executives expect human resource leaders to gain greater influence in the coming years as companies prioritize workforce transformation.

Juhi McClelland, managing director of IBM Consulting Asia-Pacific, said CEOs in the region are now moving beyond experimentation toward AI-centered leadership models.

“Asia-Pacific CEOs are setting the global pace for AI adoption, moving decisively beyond experimentation toward AI-driven leadership. What stands out is not only their confidence in the technology, but how deliberately they are embedding AI at the core of decision-making and operations—with a clear willingness to move early and move fast, even amid uncertainty,” she said.

“Technology alone, however, won’t deliver impact. Real success will depend on how leaders empower their people, redesign roles, evolve processes, and embed AI responsibly across the enterprise,” McClelland added.

Leo Capinpin, country general manager and technology leader of IBM Philippines, said CEOs in the country remain highly aggressive in embracing AI despite lingering uncertainties around long-term value creation.

“Philippine CEOs surveyed are among the most decisive in embracing AI and yet, only a fraction say they have a clear vision for how it will deliver competitive advantage. That gap provides a clear signal: AI cannot scale on ambition alone; it demands organizations to fundamentally rethink how they operate. The companies that will come out ahead are those that move beyond treating AI as a project, and start running their business with AI at the core,” Capinpin said.

The study showed that 83 percent of Philippine CEOs now consider AI sovereignty essential to business strategy, reflecting growing concerns around governance, accountability, and operational control.

By 2030, CEOs surveyed expect 49 percent of operational decisions with codified guardrails and consistent processes to be fully handled by AI without human intervention, up from 25 percent today.

At the same time, 87 percent of executives said they are decentralizing decision-making as AI assumes a larger enterprise-wide role.

The report also underscored the workforce implications of AI adoption, with 90 percent of Philippine CEOs saying AI success depends more on employee adoption than on the technology itself.

Between 2026 and 2028, Philippine executives expect 31 percent of workers to require reskilling for different roles, while 55 percent will need additional upskilling to perform their current jobs more effectively.

IBM also found that organizations globally that redesigned technology, finance, human resources, operations, and cross-functional collaboration were four times more likely to achieve business objectives successfully.