Are we ready for physical AI?

Are we ready for physical AI? | Daily Tribune

By now, we’ve all come to terms with AI that can write your LinkedIn bio, hallucinate legal citations with swagger, and draft news articles in seconds — including this one. I promise you, though, I prompt and edit with the condescending tenacity of an insecure English Professor.

But there’s a new kind of artificial intelligence stepping out from behind the screen — literally. Welcome to the world of Physical AI: where intelligence doesn’t just sit in the cloud, it walks, lifts, drives, and occasionally flies. According to Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA and AI rockstar, this is the next trillion-dollar opportunity.

Use cases already on the ground

• Logistics: Amazon’s warehouses are “manned” with thousands of Kiva robots moving inventory faster than any human crew ever could.

• Manufacturing: Tesla isn’t just building self-driving cars-it’s building bots. Its Optimus humanoid robot is designed to take on repetitive and physically demanding tasks in factories.

• Retail & Delivery: JD.com, one of China’s e-commerce giants, uses autonomous delivery robots and drones across several cities.

Many other game-changing Physical AI use cases are now being piloted, ranging from robot-assisted surgery to data center operations.

What about the Philippines?

Physical AI could either uplift the local economy with new tech-enabled jobs, or gut it by automating the very roles many Filipinos depend on.

Upside?

• Robot operators and supervisors: Think BPO 2.0 — only instead of talking to Americans, you’re managing robot fleets halfway across the world.

• Improved rural logistics: Drones could bring supplies and services to places unreachable by traditional delivery.

• Workplace safety: Robots can go where humans should not — from collapsed buildings to disaster areas.

Downside?

• Uneven access: Urban centers may enjoy robotic convenience while rural areas are stuck watching TikToks about it.

• Displacement: Delivery riders and factory workers could find themselves competing with machines that neither unionize nor sleep.

• Skills gap: If we don’t invest in developing local talent and expertise in Physical AI, Filipinos risk being left out of the value chain entirely.

So, what should we do?

1. Upskill now: Integrate robotics and AI operations into TESDA, senior high tech-voc, and university STEM tracks. This should include Physical AI testbeds co-developed by government and private sector.

2. Attract robotics companies to setup shop here in the Philippines: The Philippines obviously can’t win this game in isolation — so we need to partner intelligently. Filipinos would make excellent remote robot operators and sherpas, bringing the same adaptability, communication skills, and global mindset that powered the BPO boom. If BPO 1.0 began with voice services and evolved into management consulting and digital transformation services, then BPO 2.0 could start with remote robot operations — and scale up to high-value roles in ML and mechatronics engineering.

3. Enabling legislation: such as the proposed Philippine AI Governance Act

The question for the Philippines is: Do we want to be a factory, a user, or an innovator? Or will we just be spectators, watching a robot dance on our jobs?