I CAN’T help but remember the first thing that resonated to me when I first learned about Artificial Intelligence (AI) during a seminar I attended in college ten years ago if my memory serves me right. The speaker emphasized the importance of being competent and equipped with soft skills, as AI might eventually replace human skills in the nearest future. It is somehow frightening when I heard it, but is this what we’re witnessing now? Or is AI giving human skills a boost to carry out our tasks more effectively and efficiently?
From a futuristic concept, artificial intelligence is now a transformative force and a breakthrough technology for all industries which has been continuously shaping the business environment and contributes to the economy of the country.
We have probably seen AI first in industrialized countries like USA and Japan, being touted as capital-intensive manufacturing nations, which aids in achieving increased productivity levels and consistency in product quality. Here in the Philippines, we have seen AI as prevalent in the academe first, and its use on business sectors are not too popular and rampant already . In the academe, as a college professor, the use of AI by students can be seen as contradictory to our goals of assessing students’ learning, particularly in tasks such as compositions, essays, and research. But on the other hand, AI tools, like writing assistants (i.e., Chat GPT, Gemini, Meta AI, Tako AI, etc.), can support students in organizing ideas, improving their writing, and finding credible sources. I will always tell my students that they can use AI as long as they know what they have written in their submissions and they can answer me when I ask questions.
How about the application AI in business in our province? How can AI help improve the operations of businesses that we have here? For decades, Batangas province has already established itself as a manufacturing hub of heavy industries and is contributing a significant share in the Philippine economy. It is pretty much evident to the robust and resilient economic zones and processing hubs that we have here like LIMA, PKI, etc. The AI systems utilize machine learning to predict equipment malfunctions and optimize maintenance schedules, ensuring minimal downtime and greater productivity in these manufacturing hubs. Manufacturing firms can deploy AI-powered robots in assisting workers in multitude of tasks to further increasing the plant’s operational efficiency, also reducing human error. AI can also be integrated in the effective Supply Chain management of manufacturing companies. Managers can analyze historical production data as well as current market trends so that they can predict accurately, catering to a more effective operations (minimizing wastages and prevents stock-out situation) and a more customer-driven approach. This requires significant investment for these processing and manufacturing zones but will offer significant cost-reductions, output uniformity and increased productivity levels.
The service industry, particularly Business Process Outsourcing (BPO, is another key pillar of the Philippine economy. Batangas, being a strategic location for various outsourcing companies due to its proximity to Metro Manila, is home to various call center companies like Alorica, Results CX, among others. These call center companies can also embrace AI to enhance its business operations and cut its operational costs. In times that the process requires minimal human intervention, they can use AI-powered chatbots to handle customer queries, reducing waiting times, thus improving the service delivery. For most cases, BPO companies like call center companies can make use of AI-based analytics in the assessment customer satisfaction levels so that they can identify possible opportunities for areas that need improvement.
In other business sectors like retail and hospitality, AI can also be relevant. Just like what I have mentioned about how AI can revolutionize the manufacturing process of businesses, the retail sector can also be able to have personalized customer services thru the use of AI. Consumer behavior patterns and market trends can already be predicted by AI so that these businesses can offer personalized and solution-based offering to its target market. In the hospitality sector, AI-driven chatbots can help hotels in the province to assist guests with booking, check-in, and room service requests, reducing the need for extensive human intervention while improving efficiency and guest satisfaction.
But amidst known advantages that it will bring to businesses, of course there are cons (data privacy concerns, employee displacement, etc). Now the big question is this: will the benefit that we acquire from using AI can outweigh its drawbacks?||
