Every company betting on AI would assume that the youngest being the most digitally fluent employees would adopt the new technology with eagerness. Instead, they are the most hesitant, one education advocate said.
The stakes are not small. The Philippines’ IT-BPM sector is on pace for USD42 billion in export revenue and nearly 1.97 million jobs this year, and artificial intelligence is already rewriting almost every task inside that number. The companies that pull ahead over the next five years will not be the ones with the most advanced AI. They will be the ones that invest in their people.
That was the theme at “How Filipino Companies Are Using AI Beyond the Hype,” a session at the Agora Masterclass: The Voices of One, held at Hilton Manila on 29 July 2026 in celebration of the 45th Anniversary of the Agora Awards. The thought forum was organized by the Philippine Marketing Association (PMA).
Panelists were Rossana Ladaga, chairperson of AHEAD Education Group; Donald Lim, president, Management Association of the Philippines and chair of Global AI Council Philippines; Jos Ortega, CEO, Havas Ortega; Dr. Maria Victoria M. Ac-Ac, professor, Lyceum of the Philippines University; Rio Ilao, president, MobileOptima; and Dr. Antonio Etrata Jr., program chair, University of Santo Tomas. The session was chaired by Adolf Aran Jr., marketing educator at National University and director of the PMA Marketing Conference.
Ladaga said the shift inside her own company, AHEAD, has come little by little rather than by mandate. Her staff already know what to do and how to do it, she said. What is taking longer to shift is something less visible: many still don’t feel ready, in their own minds, for how much the work is changing. The resistance has come not from her most senior staff but from her youngest, the employees expected to adopt AI fastest who instead have been the most hesitant.
“My younger staff were reluctant to use it,” she said. “Many of their friends are artists and musicians, and they believe AI was simply stealing everyone’s work.”
“AI today is just the minimum,” she said. “It’s our new fire, our new knife, our new computer, tools that free up our time for judgment and creativity, so we can solve our clients’ concerns. This isn’t about removing jobs or laying people off. It’s about adding more products and services to answer even the smallest of people’s problems.” She added: “But the one thing AI can’t manufacture is trust built over decades.”
She extended the same logic to the country’s workforce pipeline. “Happy to see more educators open to AI now,” she said. “Before, they had worries and wouldn’t allow it in the classroom. But in reality, when their students graduate, employers who care about efficiency will require it of them.”
A multi-awarded education advocate, Ladaga started AHEAD Education Group, which operates nine education brands. AHEAD has remained debt-free through its 31-year history, a record Ladaga credits to always adapting early while staying focused on people.
