Puno: AIDA intended to maximize AI space

House Deputy Speaker Ronaldo Puno said Wednesday that the recent bill they passed which sought to establish a dedicated agency to govern the proposed economic zone in New Clark City was intended to make the most out of the growing artificial intelligence market.

Speaking during the DAILY TRIBUNE’s Straight Talk program, the lawmaker said the Philippines is well positioned to capitalize on the technological space, given its vast natural resources and highly skilled workers.

Puno noted what was needed for the government to enhance its ability to enter the market through the creation of the Advanced Industries Development Authority (AIDA), which would be dedicated to governing the economic zone that will be established in Clark.

“What we hope is that here in Clark, in the Advanced Industries Development Authority zone, we would be able to produce a free market environment for the development of the ecosystem needed for artificial intelligence,” he explained.

The lawmaker further stated that the measure was meant to define what the authority that would rule over Clark would be, pointing out that all economic zones in the country had their own distinct laws.

Puno also said that the law was needed to increase foreign investor confidence in the economic zone, stressing that business owners could grow disinterested in an area that was not backed by concrete policies.

“That’s why we need the law, because it really defines, prescribes, and guarantees what the zone will look like,” he pointed out.

Aside from being an independent economic zone, Puno explained that AIDA will tie into the Pax Silica declaration, which was a non-binding agreement of 26 countries around the world.

He said that Pax Silica was intended to establish an artificial intelligence ecosystem that was free enterprise-based, preventing the facility and artificial intelligence in general from becoming weaponized.

Puno stressed that Pax Silica was an initiative that intended for technology to be used for the good of the people and avoid competition between countries that were part of the agreement.

As for AIDA, the lawmaker highlighted that it could not only provide a positive impact on the revenue generation of the government, it could likewise open thousands of job opportunities for Filipinos.

He would point out that the skill sets that would be sought in such agencies are data management people, computer engineers, and other related professions in order to cater to the hardware that would go into the facilities.

In light of the new jobs, Puno said that there were various government agencies like the Department of Information and Communications Technology that were already looking into upscaling the skills of workers.

Even with the anticipated adjustments on the part of Filipinos, Puno expressed that the country was poised to lead the new ecosystem given that a majority of people were already computer literate.

“It’s really exciting…if you look at this area of our country’s development, we gain a bit of optimism,” he said.

Puno likewise stated that if the bill was passed in Congress in the current year, AIDA could begin its operations as early as 2027.

The bill was officially filed before the House of Representatives on Monday, 26 October.