By Joann Villanueva
MANILA – Filipinos’ tech-savviness and strong use of social media likely played in the strong momentum for artificial intelligence (AI) utilization in the country compared to other countries in Asia Pacific.
This was noted by Mao Gen Foo, vice president for Asia of Genesys, a global player on agentic orchestration for customer experience (CX), during a briefing on Wednesday in the company’s office in Quezon City,
Results of the 2026 State of Customer Experience (CX) Report, a survey conducted by an independent research firm to around 5,811 consumers and 1,560 consumer experience and business leaders in over 20 countries in Asia Pacific from March to April 2026, showed that 64 percent of the respondents from the Philippines are more positive on AI-powered services compared to two years ago.
This level is higher than 56 percent across Asia Pacific, and 60 percent globally.
The report, released in the country on Wednesday, also showed that 35 percent of the Filipino respondents have good experience on the use of AI-powered services, thus, the shift toward this service.
It said Filipinos now have higher expectations for CX because of AI, and this was seen as the reason for their loyalty to brands and their buying intentions.
Also, CX leaders are also planning to employ AI-backed tools to bolster the performance of their human agents, supervisors and other CX employees, the same report said.
Foo cited as possible drivers of this bullishness to Filipinos love for technology, strong usage of mobile phones and good experience on AI-backed services.
“Talking to many customers as I move around the different regions, I think the Filipinos actually are very welcoming to technology. I mean, if you look at social media adoption, mobile phone adoption, Filipinos are among one of the highest across the region. So I would say that Filipinos are actually very digital savvy, very willing to adopt something new relative to some markets where maybe they are more fixed in their ways, are more rigid, are more structured and organized,” he said.
Kulachart Ngernpermpoon, at the same briefing, said the size of the Philippines’ population also likely contributed to the large number of AI-welcoming Filipinos.
He said the country’s diverse population, language, and geographic background were main factors on this shift.
He said talks with one of their clients, a telecommunications firm, in the past showed that “transformation starts from personalization.”
He said initially the telco firm only offered top-up services, but later on provided better and faster service, and encouraged migration from pre-paid to post-paid services.
“Before, you only sell a mobile plan. Now, you’re seeing them sell the content. In the very near future, you will also see them selling the AI. So, that, again, coming to the scalability, matched with the size of the population, matched with geographic (factor) the needs for AI becomes much more stronger among the CX leader in the Philippines,” he added. (PNA)
