Philippine companies should use artificial intelligence to enhance workers rather than replace them, MAP president Donald Lim told business leaders in Cebu on June 22, arguing that the country's competitive edge will come from its people. His push for a human-centered AI approach arrives as generative AI threatens to eliminate jobs in customer service, accounting, legal, and administrative fields.
Lim said the skills that define effective leadership and customer engagement-relationship-building, judgment, empathy-remain difficult for machines to replicate. "Augment your people before you automate everything," Lim said. "The companies that will win the next decade are not necessarily the ones that automated the fastest. They are the ones whose people felt invested in, not replaced by technology."
The limits of automation
While AI can handle routine and repetitive tasks, deeper judgment work still shows smaller gains. "For deeper judgment work, strategy, negotiation, reading a room, building relationships and leading through ambiguity, the gains from AI are smaller for now," Lim said. "Those happen to be the things many business leaders and professionals do every day."
Companies that treat AI solely as a cost-cutting tool risk eroding trust and missing the productivity gains of human-machine collaboration. "The temptation is to focus entirely on efficiency," Lim said. "But the human side becomes even more important as technology becomes more powerful."
A blueprint from the BPM industry
Lim pointed to the Philippine business process management (BPM) industry, one of the country's largest employers, as a model. In the emerging setup, AI manages routine inquiries while humans handle complex customer relationships and problem-solving that require empathy. "That's a better job. That's a higher-value job," Lim said. "The model is not AI replacing the agent. The model is AI handling routine work while people focus on what humans do best."
Reskilling as a leadership priority
International estimates cited by Lim project that AI and related technologies will create about 170 million jobs globally by 2030 while displacing 92 million existing positions. The World Economic Forum estimates nearly 60 percent of the global workforce will need reskilling or upskilling within the next few years. "The issue is not whether jobs will exist. The issue is whether people are prepared for them," Lim said.
For Philippine companies, that turns workforce development into a strategic priority, not a periodic HR task. "Reskilling cannot live in a corner of HR's annual training schedule," Lim said. "It has to be measured, budgeted, reported and owned at the leadership level." Lim's call places human resources leadership at the center of AI strategy-a shift that aligns with specialized development offerings like an AI Learning Path for CHROs. Building internal capability in AI for Human Resources can equip teams to lead reskilling and human-centered redesign.
Beyond productivity, Lim sees an opportunity for the Philippines to differentiate globally by combining tech adoption with strengths in service, collaboration, and community-oriented leadership. "That is a Filipino competitive advantage. Do not give it up in the name of efficiency," he said.
Why this matters for HR professionals
Lim's message shifts the AI conversation from fear of job loss to the design of work that blends technology with inherently human skills. For HR leaders, this means reskilling must move from a compliance-driven activity to a board-level agenda with clear metrics and investment. It demands that HR functions actively shape how AI is deployed-deciding which tasks get automated and which get augmented-rather than simply managing the fallout. "The future of work in your company is not something that will happen to you," Lim said. "It is something you decide."
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