The 51st Philippine Business Conference and Expo, with the theme “The Future is Now,” staged an event filled with exciting innovations and insights into the future of the digital era.

The first day featured two special sessions with Mr. Arnie Alvarez, Chief Technology Officer of Huawei Philippines, and Atty. Angelo A. Jimenez, President of the University of the Philippines. Each speaker delved into two different facets of innovation in digital technology — the former in the business sector and the latter in the education sector.

Mr. Alvarez of Huawei Philippines led a talk titled “Bridging the Future: Empowering Growth Through Data & Connectivity.” He shared that the amount of data easily accessed and developed in 2025 has resulted in a “shelf life” of four years for information and research in the engineering industry. This means that engineering students in a four-year college course will have outdated knowledge by the time they graduate.

By the 2040s, Alvarez estimated that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can replace up to 80 percent of human jobs, including but not limited to drivers, audio transcribers, translators, surgeons, news writers, and novelists. Huawei, in particular, has already started incorporating AI in its new cars, replacing the need for drivers and including features such as air gesture sensors and voice-activated command centers.

Despite the statistics of AI replacing human jobs, Alvarez maintained that the upcoming changes must be approached with excitement and an open mind. He reasserted the expo’s theme, saying that businesses must “step up or fall behind.”

Furthermore, he shared that the top ten jobs in 2025 — such as data analysts and AI trainers — did not exist ten years ago. This means that schools today are preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist, educating them on theoretical technology that hasn’t yet been developed, and training them to solve problems that we do not yet know are problems.

Atty. Angelo A. Jimenez, President of the University of the Philippines, backed Alvarez’s statement on the role of schools and universities in the 21st century’s digital transformation. While businesses drive adaptation and the government sets the rules, Jimenez asserted that it is the universities that prepare people to adapt to change, think critically, and maintain empathy.

In his talk titled “Harnessing the Power of Knowledge: Universities at the Heart of Inclusive Transformation,” Jimenez emphasized the importance of educational institutions creating guardrails for the ethical, legal, and policy frameworks governing the use of AI.

Currently, Asia is leading the advancement and implementation of Artificial Intelligence in the world. The Philippines ranks fourth lowest in the region while simultaneously holding the eleventh spot out of 38 countries in AI integration, beating the global average of almost 57 percent. The University of the Philippines has recently launched the country’s first-ever PhD program in Artificial Intelligence, along with a new Master’s in Engineering with a focus on Artificial Intelligence.

Jimenez ended his speech with a reminder that the use of technology must always be guided by human teachers and grounded in human empathy. Furthermore, he stated that AI isn’t being created to replace jobs — it is being developed so that even the smallest businesses may keep up, and no one is left behind.

In the quest for change and transformation, Jimenez said, “As we optimize, we do not dehumanize. As we innovate, we do not exclude.”