UNESCO AI Readiness Assessment Report: Anchoring Ethics in AI Governance in the Philippines

Manila, 28 November – UNESCO, in collaboration with the Philippine government, has completed the AI Readiness Assessment Methodology – marking a significant step in the Philippines’ ethical AI governance journey. This milestone report is expected to complement the country’s ongoing development of the National AI Strategy for the Philippines and other initiatives to ensure responsible AI governance.

From September 2024, policy consultation workshops were conducted across the three major island groups of the Philippines—Luzon (Manila), Visayas (Cebu), and Mindanao (Davao). These workshops brought together professionals from various sectors to evaluate the country’s AI landscape across five dimensions: 1) legal/regulatory; 2) socio-cultural; 3) economy; 4) scientific and educational; and 5) technical/infrastructural, culminating in the development of the country’s AI Readiness Assessment Report.

Maki Katsuno-Hayashikawa, UNESCO Director and Representative to the Philippines:

“It is critical for ethics to be the foundation of AI governance. It is what allows technology to remain connected to humanity, and what enables us to use knowledge as a force for inclusion and sustainable development. UNESCO deeply values the dedication of our national partners. Together, we have laid the path forward for a transformative and inclusive AI ecosystem.”

Secretary Renato U. Solidum Jr., Department of Science and Technology (DOST):

“AI is opening tremendous opportunities for the Philippines. Through the National AI Strategy for the Philippines (NAIS Ph) we will ensure that AI innovation is accessible, ethical, and responsive to real societal needs. We warmly welcome the UNESCO AI Readiness Assessment Report and look forward to the strategic and inclusive collaborative efforts that will make the Philippines AI-ready.”

Arnaud Peral, UN Philippines Resident Coordinator

“The enormous potential of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to accelerate the country’s development trajectory, while emphasizing that these advancements must benefit all people. The Philippines stands at an inflection point as it carves the AI future it wants.

Inclusiveness must be at the center of these considerations. Harnessing AI responsibly can unlock opportunities across sectors, but it is imperative that no one is left behind.”

As the Philippines moves forward on its AI journey, the report serves as both a roadmap and a call to action for all sectors to collaborate in shaping an ethical and inclusive AI ecosystem. The key findings and recommendations offer a comprehensive look at where the Philippines stands in its AI readiness and what steps need to be taken to ensure that AI benefits all citizens.

Key Findings: Philippines’s AI landscape

The report identified several crucial areas for Philippines’s AI readiness, including:

1. Regulatory Framework and AI Governance: There is a need for a dedicated lead agency to consolidate national AI governance efforts. As well as leveraging the use of existing regulations, guidelines and legal frameworks—such as the Data Privacy Act of 2020 and the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 to bridge the regulatory gaps in data protection, cybersecurity, and cross-border data flow.
2. Socio-Cultural impact: Lack of affordable, reliable, and accessible broadband internet hinder the efforts to effectively raise digital competency. Despite such challenges, the Philippines has shown progress in narrowing gender disparity and growing awareness on the importance of AI ethics in government, industry, academia, and civil society. However, public trust in AI technologies remains mixed, with concerns centred on job displacement, explainability, transparency, regulatory compliance, and data misuse.
3. Economic, Scientific and Research: The national AI market size is projected to reach US$3,4877 million by 2030. AI adoption in private sector is quite strong, driven by optimistic views on productivity gains. Still the Philippines need toto improve its domestic innovation capacity in order to sustain growth and become globally competitive.

Key Policy Recommendations:

The report outlines several key policy recommendations, particularly in the areas of:

1. Embedding Ethics in AI policy: Further academic and policy research is needed to investigate ‘ethics’ in the Philippine context rather than relying solely on the mainstream western definition and abstraction of ethics. Ethical context must be interpreted from the lens of the Filipino through historical, sociological, and anthropological research to ensure fit-for-purpose regulatory standards.
2. Increase funding for capacity building, research and development: The establishment of National AI Research Fund under the purview of the DOST-PCIEERD could provide dedicated support for local AI research and innovation. Industry associations and academia are encouraged to analyse which AI use cases would benefit most from increased R&D funding, especially in critical sectors like IT-BPO, agriculture, manufacturing, and logistics.

About the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence:

With its unique mandate, UNESCO has led the international effort to ensure that science and technology develop with strong ethical guardrails for decades. The UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence was adopted by 194 member states. The Recommendation is the first global standard setting instrument with applicable Policy Action Areas, which allow policymakers to translate the core values and principles into action with respect to data governance, environment and ecosystems, gender, education and research, and health and social wellbeing, among many other spheres.

About Readiness Assessment Methodology:

The Readiness Assessment Methodology (RAM) includes a range of quantitative and qualitative questions designed to gather information about different dimensions related to a country’s AI ecosystem, including the legal and regulatory, social, and cultural, economic, scientific, and educational, and technological and infrastructural dimensions. The RAM is currently implemented in 80 countries globally. The Philippines AI Readiness Assessment through the RAM tool is supported by the European Union through the Directorate-General for International Partnership on the “Supporting Member States in Implementing UNESCO’s Recommendation on the Ethics of AI through Innovative Tools” and International Telecommunications Union for its support via the “Enhancing the Development of Standards and Frameworks for Critical Technologies in Southeast Asia”.

Link to the Philippines AI Global Observatory: Philippines | Global AI Ethics and Governance Observatory

Link to the Philippines AI Readiness Assessment Report: Philippines: artificial intelligence readiness assessment report - UNESCO Digital Library

Access all materials and event documentation

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iDSBZmad1IiUYa3jDsosdPIQPCO64X-L?usp=sharing