AI boom poses fresh risks for small enterprises
GENEVA, Switzerland—Technology has long streamlined business operations and slashed operational expenses, yet the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) poses a new set of risks for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) across Southeast Asia, including the Philippines.
While AI presents opportunities for innovation and growth, Matthew Wilson, ambassador of Barbados to the World Trade Organization (WTO), says service-based small enterprises should learn to adapt to the evolving AI landscape.
“One of the biggest issues that I see with the service sector in MSMEs in Southeast Asia and in parts of Africa right now, like Kenya, will be the dislocation that will happen with AI,” says Wilson, who also chairs the WTO informal working group on MSMEs.
Wilson says SMEs providing back-office services must first recognize that AI could take over these processes and reskill their employees to prevent sudden, massive job losses.
“That’s my biggest concern in Southeast Asia when it comes to services-based SMEs that were involved in activities that AI can now do cheaper and probably more efficiently,” Wilson says.
“That said, of course, AI does create wonderful opportunities for Southeast Asian SMEs in terms of innovation, in terms of testing, in terms of contributing to the models that are coming out of Asia,” he adds. “There’s always a bit of a flip side.”
Responding to the rapid technological evolution, the government is closely monitoring AI developments and their potential impacts on local enterprises.
Ambassador Manuel Antonio Teehankee, the Philippines’ permanent representative to the WTO, says both the executive and legislative branches of the government are crafting a national AI policy, emphasizing the importance of establishing rules, safety nets and guardrails “for all the things that could happen” in the AI landscape.
“The DTI (Department of Trade and Industry), even the President himself, are all monitoring this issue very closely because of its impact on the Philippines,” the envoy tells the Inquirer on the sidelines of the WTO Public Forum.
In its report to the WTO released in April, the government says it is looking to implement a comprehensive National AI Strategy for the Philippines, or NAIS-PH, a comprehensive framework anchored on infrastructure and investment, workforce development, research and innovation, governance and ethics and deployment.
A key component of this plan is the National AI Upskilling Roadmap, which aims to upskill 1 million Filipinos by 2028. It spans basic AI literacy to advanced data science.
In a related development, the government unveiled the Philippine AI Infrastructure Master Plan early this month, a $34.4-billion plan aimed at attracting AI infrastructure investments through 2033. Of these, the private sector is expected to account for $21 billion while $13.5 billion will come from public spending.
The AI blueprint intends to address the country’s infrastructure gap, given its relatively strong policy and regulatory environment for AI, Information and Communications Secretary Henry Aguda says during the master plan’s launch.
