An estimated five million Filipino workers are potentially facing unemployment this year due to artificial intelligence (AI) and changing climates.
According to a study by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), 14% of the total workforce in the Philippines could potentially be replaced by AI.
AI is a computer system or model capable of performing tasks that were previously only achievable by humans.
The IMF estimates that 4 in 10 or 36% of jobs in the Philippines are highly likely to be replaced by AI. However, more than half of the jobs highly exposed to AI are under categories where AI could only assist the human workforce to perform their tasks better rather than replace them entirely.
Those who work in the business process outsourcing sector (BPO) are among those most likely to be replaced by AI, especially as AI-operated chatbots become more advanced.
Jobs also at risk from AI include those in sales and service sectors. At the University of Santo Tomas, engineers have created the Logistics Indoor Service Assistant or LISA Robot, capable of delivering medicines and other medical supplies and facilitating patient-doctor communication via video call.
Jobs least likely to be replaced by AI include those in agriculture and planting, creative work, and those operating machinery.
