EXECUTIVES FROM Coursera and iPeople Inc. invited students to explore the potential of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) or the type of AI that could generate content in response to the user's request, saying this has a high impact on various industries.
"In the Philippines, GenAI could potentially drive USD79 billion of productivity gain by 2030 if we start training and upskilling now," Karine Allouche, online course provider Coursera's global head of Enterprise, said during a small group discussion in Makati on Wednesday.
Globally, the areas mostly impacted by AI, she said, are sales, marketing, research and development, software engineering, as well as customer operations.
Allouche said that while the International Monetary Fund (IMF) sees that 36 percent of jobs in the Philippines could either be displaced or eased by AI, people at Coursera believe that there is more opportunity than disruption in AI.
She also cited that based on a study, GenAI could add USD50 billion to Philippine businesses by 2030.
At Coursera, there is one enrollment in GenAI in every 20 minutes, Allouche said.
In the same discussion, iPeople Inc. president Alfredo Ayala acknowledged that AI is both a threat and an opportunity.
iPeople Inc. is the Yuchengco-Ayala education partnership, whose schools include Mapua University, Mapua Malayan Colleges Laguna, Mapua Malayan Colleges Mindanao, Mapua Malayan Digital College, National Teachers College and University of Nueva Caceres.
"GenAI is impacting every human endeavor and career pathways," Ayala said.
In their schools, Ayala said students could have a personal AI career guidance counselor and an AI coach, guiding them on degrees or levels they should take.
There is an AI-enabled experience for all of their schools, he added.
Coursera is Ayala's partner in these new capabilities since 2019. (Ma. Cristina Arayata)
