By Beatriz Marie D. Cruz, Reporter
PHILIPPINE BUSINESSES looking to adopt agentic artificial intelligence (AI) must put an emphasis on agent training to guard against biases and ensure responsible data use, Microsoft Philippines said.
“The agents aren’t people — they are designed by us. So, we’re the ones that ground the AI, point it to the data that it works with, and we’re the ones that train it against biases and wrong information,” Microsoft Philippines Chief Executive Officer Peter D. Maquera said in an interview with BusinessWorld.
“If you don’t have the AI expertise to architect that in your organization, then how will you ever deploy it at scale? You’ll just be stuck doing AI at the individual level.”
About 89% of Philippine leaders say they are confident about having AI agents as digital team members to expand their workforce capacity in the next 12 to 18 months, according to Microsoft’s 2025 Work Trend Index report.
However, while 60% of Philippine leaders are extremely familiar with AI agents, only 42% of employees can say the same, it said.
It added that 80% of company leaders in the Philippines said their company is considering adding AI-focused roles.
Mr. Maquera said the increased interest among organizations about using AI-powered tools highlights the need to include AI governance frameworks in their business models.
“For AI to work, you have to be able to trust it. It has to be fair, transparent, and you have to be able to trace where it’s getting its data,” he said.
“For data in the company, you need to be able to classify its sensitivity. Some data can be for general purposes that you can share publicly, or some could be highly sensitive,” Mr. Maquera added. “A lot of it is around — data governance, protecting a person’s identity, and making sure that the data is not leaked outside and can’t be stolen by others.”
Business leaders should also ensure that the AI investments are in line with their organization’s needs and prioritize technologies that can boost value creation, he said.
In its 2025 Work Trend Index report, Microsoft noted the emergence of a new organizational blueprint that combines machine intelligence with human judgment.
Companies are on their way to becoming frontier firms, or those powered by hybrid teams of humans and agents, in the near term, it said.
The journey to becoming a frontier firm would happen in three phases: human with assistant; human-agent teams; and human-led, agent-operated. This would mean a shift in a human worker’s roles to be in charge of strategizing and orchestrating AI agents.
“Organizations today must navigate the challenge of preparing for an AI-enhanced future, where AI agents will gain increasing levels of capability over time that humans will need to harness as they redesign their business,” Microsoft said in the report.
The Work Trend Index survey was conducted by independent research firm Edelman Data x Intelligence. From Feb. 6 and March 24, the firm surveyed about 31,000 full-time employed or self-employed knowledge workers across 31 markets, including the Philippines.
