Although artificial intelligence (AI) has been a major topic of discussion for the past couple of years, it has been quite central on both the global and local (and even personal) stages this week.

AI is computer intelligence that simulates human intelligence. For the generations that have only imagined artificial intelligence through the eyes of science fiction writers and storytellers, having to directly face AI forces us to rethink our own behavior and decisions, given that what was previously fiction is now a reality.

For the tail-end millennials, generation Z, gen Alpha, and the succeeding generations, this perspective will not be there because they were or will be born (or aware) when AI is no longer fiction but fact.

While it may not yet be at a stage wherein we will see the T-800 and Skynet of Terminator: Judgement Day, Commander Data of Star Trek: Next Generation (STNG), Hal 9000 of the Space Odyssey series, the androids in the Aliens series, or even Wall-E and his villain counterpart AUTO, their forerunners are already here.

The “precursors” of the artificial intelligence of the far future are ChatGPT, Copilot, Grok, Gemini and Claude, to name a few.

The AI platforms of today serve as the foundational DNA of the AI platforms of the future. Hence, the decisions and initiatives we make over the next couple of years will decide whether we end up with awesome androids like Data of STNG or killer robots who stop at nothing like the Terminator series.

This is why the feud between Anthropic, which is the developer of Claude, and the Pentagon over the self-imposed guardrails is important. The Pentagon is asking Anthropic to relax or remove these guardrails for military use, to which the latter has said no, because it is concerned about how its AI can be used for unethical purposes such as mass surveillance of the public or in the design/manufacture of autonomous weapons.

The Pentagon has threatened Anthropic with the loss of business and a negative classification that could limit its growth or surrender its control. Anthropic’s rivals have voiced support for its decision to oppose the Pentagon. This sounds uncannily like the worlds described in the aforementioned sci-fi movies of military development and big business interests in AI.

While the gods decide on the direction of AI, users such as the Philippines are like the Argonauts on a mission to navigate the whims of Olympus. It seems we have started on the right footing. We already have our national strategy/roadmap, but this week is particularly significant.

The Department of Science and Technology launched the National Artificial Intelligence Center for Research and Innovation. This new institution seeks to centralize and coordinate AI-related research, develop and establish the infrastructure that can support nationally developed applications, and provide platforms and services for applications focused on priority areas such as disaster risk, health and agriculture, among others.

We have long been underinvested in research and development and more so in these key areas. This research hub for AI will hopefully get us ahead or at pace with other economies and, more importantly, is a recognition of an opportunity to address our structural challenges.

Having said that, AI also presents many risks that may not yet be fully appreciated by local investors. John Maynard Keynes, in his 1930 essay, “Economic possibilities for our grandchildren,” talked about technological unemployment. This is unemployment “due to our discovery of means of economizing the use of labor outrunning the pace at which we can find new uses for labor.” In other words, the speed of automation exceeds the pace of development of new value-added skills.

Keynes believes that this is only a temporary phase. Just like the internet and Wikipedia negatively affected libraries and librarians, the industry evolved towards digital database management and information sciences. The key is adaptation.

As a services-driven economy, the Philippines is vulnerable to this potential shock. Every worker or industry that is sensitive to AI-driven unemployment must face AI directly. The best change we can make is to embrace technology and diversify our skills and knowledge for a strange new world that is already here.