Building AI Literacy and Innovation in the Philippines One Prompt at a Time

By Alvin Toh, Co-founder of Straits Interactive

Following the success of Straits Interactive’s inaugural National AI Prompt Design Challenges in Singapore last year, we have now debuted the Philippine edition – the country’s first, co-organised with the Analytics and AI Association of the Philippines (AAP). It is the first of two planned runs of the Challenge in the Philippines, starting with Metro Manila and Luzon.

Aligned with the Philippines’ National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy Roadmap 2.0 (NAISR 2.0), the Challenge promotes safe and responsible Generative AI innovation among business professionals and youth in the Philippines. By creating an opportunity for people of all backgrounds to acquire AI capabilities and practice leveraging the technology effectively, the Challenge is also in-step with the national government’s thrust to establish the Philippines as a center of excellence in AI R&D, reflected in the Department of Trade and Industry’s creation of the Center for AI Research (CAIR).

Democratising AI Capabilities Through the Prompt Design Challenge

The first run of the Philippine National AI Prompt Design Challenge took place at three different Higher Education Institutes located in Makati, Laguna and Pampanga on 17, 18 and 20 June 2025. There, over 500 professionals and youths took home practical skills in no-code creation of AI tools. Participants gained hands-on experience with prompt engineering techniques and responsible app development practices to tackle business challenges.

Held at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), Mapúa Malayan Colleges Laguna (MMCL), and Angeles University Foundation (AUF), the event drew participants from 20+ industries and 40 schools, with some who travelled in from outside of Metro Manila, as far as Quezon and Pangasinan. Nearly 200 apps were built and submitted on Capabara, Straits Interactive’s Generative AI platform.

The submissions were as diverse as they were innovative: from the digitalisation of government services, to bots enabling enhanced work productivity, AI tutors personalising student learning, applications extracting insights from image analysers, and diagnostic assistants among others.

Interesting submissions steeped in Filipino culture were also present, from engaging with Filipino heroes to teaching social etiquette. This multi-sector representation underscored the creativity and ingenuity of Filipino innovators, as well as their potential to integrate AI meaningfully into everyday life.

Support from sponsors such as ePLDT, Access Law and Advanced Information Solutions and Concepts (AISC), Inc. also reflects growing industry confidence in the Philippines’ ability to cultivate an AI-ready workforce.

Standards in Effective and Responsible AI App Design

Judging is underway and the winners will be announced at the upcoming AI Conference (AICON) by AAP, on July 23, 2025.

Submissions are evaluated based on a balance between creativity, real-world application and technical security. We assessed participants across a number of areas including functionality, user experience, innovation, benefit and potential, and security and ethics.

In terms of functionality, we assessed how well the tool could perform its core task, and produce accurate results, and use a combination of Chain-of-Thought reasoning, file uploads and datasets to solve a real-world issue. For user experience, a good app should be intuitive, clear and have logical flow, such that even non-technical users find it easy to use. Judges will also look out for innovative solutions that showcase originality, with strong impact, relevance and scalability. Most importantly, the tools must have in-built guardrails against adversarial prompts, maintain transparency and personal data privacy.

This approach ensures that winners embody not just competence in app-building but also a commitment to safe and ethical AI deployment. It also serves as a helpful framework for business professionals who are developing and evaluating AI projects in general.

The Next Wave of AI-centric Jobs in the Philippines

The artificial intelligence market size is expected to reach $3.85 billion USD (221 billion PHP) by 2031, showing an annual growth rate of 26 percent. Part of this is due to the upward trend of chatbot adoption for customer service and data analysis, as companies embrace the cost-saving benefits and improved efficiency of AI-powered solutions.

Given the Philippines’ strong position in the global Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry, the integration of AI into back-office roles will likely be one of the biggest multipliers for growth.

But with this boom comes a paradigm shift in workforce requirements and need for AI Governance in firms using or developing Generative AI solutions. Emerging roles such as AI Ethicists, AI Trainers, and automation consultants are just the beginning. In a few years, it’s likely we will work alongside AI agents as teammates, not just tools.

This makes AI literacy critical. Prompt engineering – the art of communicating effectively with Large Language Models (LLMs) in Generative AI tools to attain desired outputs – is quickly becoming as essential as Microsoft Office proficiency. Those without the skills to navigate this shift risk being left behind.

Why Capability-as-a-Service (CaaS) is vital for Businesses in the Philippines

Adopting AI isn’t simply about subscribing to tools, expecting a silver bullet. True digital transformation requires building the right individual competencies and organisational capabilities, which involves a combination of knowledge, skills, technology, processes and flexibility. In markets like the Philippines, where large corporations often have access to AI tools but lack widespread adoption due to skills gaps, capability-building is key in bridging the current gap to successful enterprise adoption of Generative AI.

To support this, our Capability-as-a-Service (CaaS) model was developed with an emphasis on AI-enhanced training, the Capabara platform and expert-led advisory to help organisations integrate AI responsibly and sustainably.

Through partnerships with institutions such as Singapore Management University (SMU) Academy, AIM and Adamson University, we deliver programs that pair Generative AI tutors with hands-on exercises to upskill professionals across diverse business functions. The Capabara platform further enables non-technical users to design and adopt AI-powered tools without coding, empowering teams to apply AI in their workflows. Complementing these is a Governance-by-design approach that provides corporate users with privacy safeguards and expert guidance to ensure ethical and effective AI adoption. Together, these elements equip organisations with the skills and frameworks to systematically deploy and govern AI across departments for meaningful impact.

Future Collaborations to Nurture AI Capabilities

The first National AI Prompt Design Challenge in the Philippines is just the beginning. Soon, we will be announcing the second leg of the Challenge, set for the last quarter of this year in Visayas and Mindanao.

Straits Interactive is also committed to deepening partnerships with educational institutions and businesses in the Philippines to raise AI literacy and drive digital transformation. For example, our latest partnership with Adamson University’s Adamson Center for Executive Studies (ACES) will deliver an Advanced Certificate in Generative AI Apps Design and Prompt Engineering. The courses in the certification will give participants the practical knowledge and frameworks needed to create AI-powered solutions that deliver real business value.

By enabling Filipinos to build AI capabilities – not just adopt technology – we can collectively tap on the potential of an AI-driven future that is innovative, inclusive, and responsible.