NEWS

Many customer service, technical support and other tasks originally performed by humans are gradually being replaced by AI. "Bloomberg" described this as a scenario that seemed like something only seen in science fiction a few years ago, but has now become a reality.

The emergence of artificial intelligence has made many people worry that AI will replace their jobs. However, while various industries in other countries are still in the "worry" stage about AI, little do they know that this has become the current situation of the Philippine outsourcing industry.

What are the most common “outsourcing services” in the Philippines?

The Philippines, located in Southeast Asia, has always been an important center for global outsourcing business (Business Process Outsourcing, BPO), second only to India.

Among them, call centers or customer service needs are the most common outsourcing business in the Philippines, followed by back-office support (Back Office Support). This type of work includes accounting, data processing, payroll management, human resources management, etc. business.

Many international companies will outsource these business processes to third-party service providers in the Philippines because the local labor costs are relatively low and the employees' English skills are high.

The current situation of the outsourcing industry: rapid penetration of AI technology

However, with the rapid development of AI technology, the Philippine outsourcing industry is facing unprecedented challenges.

It can be found in the data chart provided by Bloomberg that the stock prices of outsourcing companies generally rose in the early stages of the epidemic (2020-2021). However, with the rise of AI technology, the stock prices of some companies have experienced significant fluctuations and declines.

The report also pointed out that in the past few months, outsourcing companies in the Philippines have introduced "AI-assisted" (copilot) tools to stay competitive. This auxiliary tool is usually operated by human employees. AI algorithms can not only handle customer needs, but also summarize customers' past contact records with the company, reduce unnecessary communication time, and analyze emotional reactions to improve service quality. All this can be done instantly.

Government and business response measures

Facing the challenges brought by AI, the Philippine government and enterprises are actively looking for solutions.

According to reports, the Philippines has become a testing ground for new AI tools. The country's government has also established an artificial intelligence research center and promoted a number of AI training programs aimed at improving the skills of the 1.7 million employees in the outsourcing industry.

These training programs, which are both government-supported and enterprise-led, are designed to ensure that the Philippine outsourcing industry can remain competitive in this period of global technological change.

In addition to improving skills, government and industry experts also believe that further reform of the social security and tax systems is needed to ensure that the benefits of AI technology can be widely shared. Such a shift would not only help workers better adapt to new technologies, but also ensure that society as a whole does not experience excessive turmoil due to technological change.

Carsten Jung, director of macroeconomics and AI at the Institute for Public Policy Research, a London think tank, also said that policymakers must be prepared for this transition period of AI changes. He mentioned: "Social security and taxation The system also needs to keep pace with the times so that people can share the advantages brought by AI.”