Employees’ productivity can increase to 40 percent through the use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools, tax services provider PwC Philippines said Monday.

PwC Philippines manager for deals and corporate finance Mary Jade Roxas-Divinagracia said the productivity growth resulted from employees’ use of ChatPwC, a type of GenAI and virtual assistant that allows users to gain specific and accurate answers to their questions quickly.

“It’s not about removing people, but trying to make every person more efficient and having the tech do small, time-consuming tasks,” PwC GenAI leader for Asia-Pacific Scott McLiver said during a recent PwC AI Masterclass.

ChatPwC eyes 150 countries

Last year, the global tax advisory firm shared that it was running a pilot of ChatPwC in the United States as it aimed to deploy the technology in its other offices in 150 countries.

Despite GenAI’s capability to save time and energy of workers, PwC Philippines consulting managing principal Veronica Bartolome said more Filipinos and other nationals still have to try any GenAI tool like ChatGPT as shown in PwC’s 2024 Global Hopes and Fears Survey.

The survey released in June, says 62 percent of all employees noticed more changes at work, such as increased workloads and more varied tasks, amid the rise of GenAI.

However, 33 percent said they did not see opportunities to use the technology in their work and 23 percent had no idea how to use any GenAI tool.

“Realizing its full benefits requires investing in your people, skills, behavior and cultivating a supportive culture and mindset,” Bartolome advised other companies.

PwC Philippines said one of GenAI’s training programs focuses on prompt engineering or ways to construct specific and clear questions or instructions GenAI language platforms can easily understand.

To effectively use GenAI, users must also be able to determine specific problems and purposes they want the technology to help solve and accomplish.

“As we explore GenAI, balancing risks with opportunities that can be derived from using the GenAI is crucial. Having an AI governance framework and adhering to ethical guidelines ensures responsible implementation,” PwC Philippines leader for partner and risk services advised.