Artificial intelligence expert Dr. Christopher Monterola will headline LAMBO 2026, Cebu’s AI Business Summit, on 27 June at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel & Casino, where business leaders, professionals and students are expected to gather to discuss the growing role of AI in organizations.
The one-day summit is being co-presented by JCI Cebu, the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) and global data and AI company EXL. Organizers said the event aims to explore how businesses can create value from artificial intelligence as the technology becomes increasingly accessible.
Monterola, the Aboitiz Chair in Data Science at AIM and an Academician of the National Academy of Science and Technology, will deliver the keynote address titled “The AI Advantage in the Philippines: Competing in a World Where Intelligence Is Becoming Abundant.” The presentation will examine how the basis of competitive advantage has evolved from capital and information to intelligence, and how organizations can generate measurable value from AI initiatives.
The summit will feature live demonstrations by participants of AIM’s Master of AI and Data Analytics program, showing how AI tools can be applied to real business challenges faced by Filipino companies. Organizers said the demonstrations are designed to highlight solutions that can be adopted by micro, small and medium enterprises.
Executive panels will also tackle the use of AI in daily workflows and sector-specific applications across government, education, agribusiness and other industries. The event will conclude with the finals of an AI-powered business case competition involving university teams from Cebu.
“For most of history, competitive advantage came from access to scarce resources. First, it was capital. Then it was information. Today, AI is changing the equation by making intelligence increasingly abundant and accessible,” Monterola said.
“In a world where intelligence is becoming abundant, competitive advantage will come from how effectively organizations combine human talent, data, and AI to drive growth and innovation.”
Joshua Toledo, chair of LAMBO 2026 and a member of JCI Cebu, said the summit is focused on practical applications of AI for businesses.
“LAMBO 2026 is built for the people running real businesses in this region,” Toledo said.