THE ANALYTICS & Artificial Intelligence Association of the Philippines (AAP) said it expects the completion of the detailed implementation plan for nationwide artificial intelligence (AI) upskilling early next year.

AAP President Michelle Alarcon said the group has co-created the National AI Upskilling Plan, which was proposed by the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) Education and Jobs Pillar to President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.

“We will work towards having a pilot, but at least the detailed implementation plan will be there in January 2026,” she told reporters on the sidelines of AICON PH 2025.

“We are tasked to put together the plan and then the associated costs (involved). And then the government will set a realistic amount that can be released, which we have not got around to yet,” she added.

The National AI Upskilling Plan is set to have five tiers addressing the needs of beginners to professionals.

“Right now, we are trying to consolidate all the efforts from the private sector because we are the lead, and we are working with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA),” she said.

“We kicked off weeks ago, and now we are in the process of putting details to the budget,” she added, noting that the upskilling plan is being planned around an initial budget of P1.5 billion.

She said that the PSAC has determined a need to focus on high school students, as those already in the workforce are being taken care of by their employers.

“We will also be careful about which particular segment of the youth we will need to educate on AI,” she said.

“But the rest of the sequence, we have not figured out. It also depends on the budget. Because just high school students is already a lot,” she added.

At the conference last week, the AAP also launched the Code of Ethics of AI Professionals, which it hopes will lay the groundwork for self-regulation.

“Anyone can build anything right now. The code of ethics is just an attempt to self-regulate,” she said.

She said there is no Philippine law that regulates the use of AI, noting that the European Union restricts the use of behavioral data, facial recognition, and data points dealing with physical appearance in certain AI applications.

“What we intend to do is, without any other basis for regulating, removing bias or potential bias,” she said.

She said that the Code of Ethics will serve as a placeholder until a law or an AI governance framework emerges for the Philippines.

Asked what she wants to hear from President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.’s State of the Nation Address on Monday, she said that she hoped for Mr. Marcos to announce the National AI Upskilling Plan.

“If the leader of a country says that we are going to have AI upskilling for everyone, that shows that we are for innovation and that everything that is implied to be needed to power that innovation, be it digital infrastructure or upskilling or whatever, will be provided by the government,” she said. — Justine Irish D. Tabile