Rethinking the Philippines' workforce for AI: An all-of-labor approach

As the world races towards an AI-driven future, the Philippines stands at a critical crossroads. Despite leading globally in interest and usage of AI, we face a paradox: our nation struggles to produce a robust Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) workforce. This challenge, if left unaddressed, could severely hamper our ability to harness AI's full potential.

The statistics are alarming. Only two out of seven engineering students are female, with women constituting a mere 29.2% of the STEM workforce. This gender disparity, coupled with our poor performance in international science assessments like PISA, paints a troubling picture of our STEM education landscape.

Moreover, recent curricular changes have created a mismatch between teacher preparation and the current science curriculum, making it difficult for students to adapt. Many students struggle to balance academic duties with household responsibilities, further exacerbating the challenges in STEM education.

However, I believe our STEM crisis is just one piece of a larger AI labor puzzle. To truly embrace AI, the Philippines needs a diverse and skilled workforce encompassing four key roles: builders, users, planners, and trainers.

Builders, the architects of AI, are crucial. We already know them as software developers, data scientists, and AI engineers. While addressing the STEM bottleneck is essential for cultivating these roles, it's not the whole story.

Users, who leverage AI to enhance productivity and creativity, represent our biggest opportunity. They can come from various backgrounds – humanities, art, design, business, even vocational trades. The key is empowering them with skills like prompt engineering to harness AI's potential.

Planners design AI-integrated products and processes. They need a mix of leadership, management skills, and AI familiarity. Like users, planners can emerge from diverse fields, bringing unique perspectives to AI integration.

Trainers are the linchpin in this ecosystem, disseminating AI knowledge and skills. Beyond the struggles of our education sector and at the rate AI is continuously evolving, trainers need to be embedded in every institution to keep the workforce current. But we must ask: who's training the trainers how to teach AI?

The pervasiveness of generative AI offers a unique opportunity to democratize AI skills across our workforce. We should look to global leaders for inspiration. Dubai's ambitious program to train one million prompt engineers and Finland's initiative to teach AI basics to 1% of its population demonstrate the potential of widespread AI education.

For the Philippines to thrive in the AI era, we must adopt an all-of-labor approach that goes beyond addressing STEM challenges. By investing in builders, users, planners, and trainers, and democratizing AI knowledge, we can build a resilient, future-ready workforce.

As we stand on the brink of this AI revolution, it's time to rethink our workforce strategies. We must embrace AI as a pivotal element in every occupation in our journey toward sustainable development and global competitiveness. The Philippines has the potential to be a leader in the global AI landscape – but only if we act now to prepare our workforce for the AI-driven future that's already at our doorstep.

About the Author: Dominic Ligot is the founder, CEO and CTO of CirroLytix, a social impact AI company. He also serves as the head of AI and Research at the IT and BPM Association of the Philippines (IBPAP), and the Philippine representative to the Expert Advisory Panel on the International Scientific Report on Advanced AI Safety.