PHILIPPINES — Artificial intelligence adoption among Philippine businesses continued to accelerate this year, with 32 percent of 396,000 companies now using AI, according to a study by Strand Partners commissioned by Amazon Web Services. This marks a significant rise from 21 percent a year ago.
Adoption Accelerates Across the Country
The Unlocking the Philippines’ AI Potential 2026 report surveyed 1,000 business leaders and 1,000 nationally representative members of the public. AWS country manager Precious Lim shared the findings during a virtual briefing on Wednesday. The results highlight growing confidence in AI’s potential to drive value.
The data reveals that adoption is broadening beyond early experimenters. Nearly one in three businesses now uses AI in some form, reflecting a steady march toward digital transformation. This upward trend signals that AI is moving from niche curiosity to mainstream business tool.
Three Stages of AI Maturity
The study identified distinct stages of AI adoption. About 70 percent of adopters remain focused on basic uses, including publicly available chatbots, routine productivity applications, and ready-made solutions. These entry-level applications offer quick wins but limited strategic depth.
Another 18 percent have reached an intermediate stage, integrating AI across multiple functions to improve efficiency and customer experiences. These businesses are weaving AI into core operations rather than treating it as a standalone experiment.
The most advanced 12 percent are already using combinations of models, custom AI systems, agentic AI, or autonomous technologies. These organizations are pushing boundaries and setting benchmarks for others to follow. Their progress demonstrates the long-term potential of AI when fully embraced.
Recommendations for Sustained Growth
To sustain momentum, the study recommends strengthening data quality, integration, cloud infrastructure, and governance. Businesses should leverage grants, incentives, partnerships, and clear, risk-based frameworks to guide their AI journeys.
Organizations must also define success criteria before deployment. Connecting measurement to business outcomes helps leaders decide which projects to scale, refine, or discontinue. This disciplined approach prevents wasted resources and ensures AI investments deliver tangible returns.
Building human capability to work alongside AI is equally important. The public sector should serve as a flagship adopter, modeling best practices and building clear decision criteria for where AI belongs. These steps create an ecosystem that supports responsible innovation.
Collaboration Between Public and Private Sectors
Precious Lim emphasized that Philippine businesses are optimistic about AI’s potential value. She noted that next-generation technologies like AI agents and physical AI promise to change how we work. However, moving from adoption to impact requires collaboration.
“The next opportunity will require collaboration between the public and private sector to help businesses move from simply adopting AI to driving impact,” Lim said. This partnership is essential for addressing gaps in infrastructure, skills, and governance.
