MANILA — From converting audio to text, summarizing a hundred-page document, to analyzing huge amounts of data — generative artificial intelligence can do all of these in just a few seconds and with just a single prompt.

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AI can be used by different industries in the Philippines as demonstrated in a workshop organized by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in partnership with the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), and the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) on Thursday.

Filipino journalist Jaemark Tordecilla, a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, said AI-powered language models like ChatGPT can even be customized to fit a certain organization’s purpose, similar to how he made a CustomGPT to help investigative journalists sift through complex audit reports by the Commission on Audit.

“You can customize CustomGPTs for things like legal documents, environmental reports, or even transcripts of hearings or meetings. It’s up to any newsroom or any organization to figure out how to use the tool, to put in the guardrails to make sure that the AI isn’t doing a general scan of the whole document but you’re only using it to search for the exact information that you’re trying to look for,” said Tordecilla.

But like with any new technology, great power also comes with pitfalls such as copyright and misinformation issues.

“It’s going to make the lives of us in the media much much harder. But I think it also gives an opportunity for everyone to be more skeptical of everything they see on the internet. So it might be a time to try to get people back into using mainstream sources that they can trust,” he noted.

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For the Philippines’ competition watchdog, algorithmic bias is another thing to watch out for as more companies adopt the use of AI. 

“If you are browsing in the search engine, pag mayroon kang link or you are part of that engine, there is, kumbaga, preference to your advertisement… Possible na algorithms that would result to collusion between companies na nag-invest sa isang AI, for example,” said PCC Executive Director Kenneth Tanate. 

According to Tanate, as of March 20-4, ChatGPT already has 6.3 million users in the Philippines, which is all the more reason to come up with policies and regulations to ensure the responsible use of AI. 

But Tordecilla stressed that this initiative will require the participation of all stakeholders.

“I don’t think it’s going to be effective if it’s just the government telling everyone what needs to be done. The different industries, for example, us in the media,  we need to have positions on what we can ask for when we talk to policymakers and regulators about these industries. It’s important to engage the technology companies, to press them on what kind of guardrails they can put into their technologies,” he said.

For its part, NEDA underscored the need for better digital infrastructure in the country to make sure all sectors can benefit from AI technology.

“Before we can talk about taking advantage and harnessing the benefits of (AI) technology has to offer, we have to make sure that the digital infrastructure is enabled. And one of the main structural reforms we have been pushing for is the Konektadong Pinoy bill,” said NEDA Undersecretary Krystal Lyn Uy.

The measure, which is also known as the Open Access in Data Transmission Bill, is also supported by USAID.

“The Konektadong Pinoy bill aims to modernize the Philippine telecommunication laws. Number one, it proposes to remove the franchise requirement for telecom players. As you know it, madugo yung pagkuha ng prangkisa sa kongreso. It’s a political process,” said USAID Beacon Project Consultant Carlo Agdamag.

According to USAID, the next AI learning sessions will delve more into crafting policies on the use of AI.