The Department of Science and Technology has been championing a National AI Strategy, which is referred to as NAIS Ph. The strategy was said to be essential for the vision of a “Bagong Pilipinas” by Secretary Renato U. Solidum Jr.
The strategy was drawn up as a way to unify government efforts to surrounding AI development, keeping it inclusive and ethically grounded with one eye on future economic use.
The push for a national framework comes as AI applications are already making a big impact across sectors, meaning it’s still reactive in nature. These impacts range from personalized education and disaster response to national security and financial inclusion.
The goal is a future in which AI is used intentionally to drive innovation, improve governance, and ultimately to boost industries’ competitiveness on the global stage. One such industry is going to be the digital entertainment sector.
But it’s not only the deployment of AI in delivering such entertainment, but its involvement in AI-powered tools to review the likes of the best online casinos in the Philippines or even political analysis. President Marcos has approved the strategy, emphasizing the need to maximize AI’s benefits while mitigating risks.
The five pillars of the Philippine AI roadmap
The National AI Strategy is built on five core pillars, and these are guiding development through to 2028: ethics and policy, innovation more broadly, workforce, infrastructure, and of course, deployment. An investment of over P2.6 billion is planned for AI projects across multiple industries.
Central to this is creating a collaborative ecosystem through initiatives like the “AI Factory”, because this focuses on workforce development, while the “AI Refinery” connects research to the real world, like its industry applications.
The government has already invested P1.4 billion in AI R&D between 2018 and 2024, supporting projects like the COARE high-performance computing facility and the SkAI-Pinas remote sensing program. This push has also interested private AI investors too, particularly at the WEF meeting.
From farming to finance, AI’s target sectors
The NAIS-Ph targets a handful of sectors for AI-driven transformation, and this includes education, creative industries and agriculture, creating smart cities, and even within national security.
In practice, this is already underway with DOST-supported projects making waves. One example is the DATOS Help Desk uses AI to generate disaster risk reduction maps and this can be done within minutes, helping speed up emergency responses.
In agriculture, the ASIMOV Program is using AI robots to detect diseases in banana crops. Keeping the food supply safe in times of destabilizing weather is necessary for both farmers and consumers. So, whether it’s online casinos Philippines or national production, there’s few areas AI won’t touch.
Building a future-ready workforce
As the national strategy begins to unfold, it’s clear that a key part is the upskilling and reskilling of the Filipino workforce to prepare for this AI revolution. DOST is trying to promote institutions to expand offerings to include AI micro-credentials and continuing education programs.
Programs like SPARTA have already trained over 49,000 Filipinos in data science and AI. This focus on human capital development is perhaps where the real economic value will come from, particularly with nations increasingly hiring from abroad.
