AI & Truth: Can the Philippines Avoid Digital Dystopia?

The Philippines, land of beautiful beaches, delicious adobo, and now, apparently, a burgeoning battleground for the soul of truth itself. A recent summit at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) sounded the alarm: AI is here, it’s learning Tagalog, and it might be lying to you. Or, perhaps more accurately, someone else is using it to lie for them.

The Misinformation Tsunami

The stats are grim. Pulse Asia reports that 68% of Filipinos struggle to spot fake news. That’s more than half the population potentially mainlining digital falsehoods. This isn’t just about who won the local beauty pageant; it’s about the erosion of trust in institutions, the manipulation of elections, and the general unraveling of societal sanity.

Are we surprised? Not really. But the scale is… impressive.

The UPLB Call to Arms

Ana Pista, CEO of Ardent Communications and co-founder of the AI Centre of Excellence (ACE), is having none of it. At the UPLB summit, she called on students – the digital natives, the TikTok titans – to become ethical warriors, armed with critical thinking and a healthy dose of skepticism. Hemant Gaule, Director of the School of Communications & Reputations (SCoRe) wants students to treat AI like interns. Good advice, but does that mean paying it minimum wage?

The message is clear: understanding AI isn’t optional anymore; it’s a survival skill.

The AI Skills Void: A Growing Problem

The comms industry is scrambling to catch up. Demand for AI-related skills is reportedly up 35% year-on-year. Companies are suddenly realizing that knowing how to write a press release isn’t enough when AI can churn out a thousand variations in the blink of an eye (though, admittedly, most of them will probably sound like they were written by a particularly dull robot).

This skills gap isn’t unique to the Philippines, but its impact is amplified by the country’s unique digital landscape – a highly engaged social media population ripe for manipulation.

Democracy in the Digital Crosshairs

As experts from UP Diliman point out, this isn’t just about harmless pranks or exaggerated headlines. Misinformation and disinformation are actively undermining democracy by silencing legitimate voices and distorting the political landscape. With over 90 million Filipinos on social media, the battle for hearts and minds is being waged on a massive scale.

It’s a stark reminder that technology, in and of itself, is neither good nor evil. It’s a tool, and like any tool, it can be used to build or destroy. The question is: who’s holding the hammer?

Ethical AI: A Unicorn or a Necessity?

Pista and Gaule aim to democratize access to AI knowledge with workshops. The first one generated buzz with the hashtag #AIEthicsPH. The second one is coming up on May 5 and 6 in Makati.

The question remains: can ethical AI actually exist? Or is it like a unicorn – a mythical creature we all want to believe in, but secretly know is just a horse with a party hat?

The answer, of course, depends on us. We need to demand transparency from tech companies, hold social media platforms accountable, and, most importantly, cultivate a culture of critical thinking and media literacy. It’s not going to be easy, but the alternative – a world where truth is a commodity and manipulation is the norm – is a future no one should want.