PHILIPPINE companies are accelerating investments in artificial intelligence (AI) despite uncertainty over returns, driven largely by fears of being left behind by competitors, according to a new global study released by IBM.
“Philippine CEOs surveyed are among the most decisive in embracing AI and yet, only a fraction say they have a clear vision for how it will deliver competitive advantage,” IBM Philippines Country General Manager and Technology Leader Leo Capinpin said.
The report showed that 73 percent of Philippine chief executives surveyed admitted they are investing in some technologies before fully understanding the value these can bring to their organizations, underscoring growing pressure among businesses to keep pace with rapid technological shifts.
“That gap provides a clear signal: AI cannot scale on ambition alone; it demands organizations to fundamentally rethink how they operate,” he added. “The companies that will come out ahead are those that move beyond treating AI as a project, and start running their business with AI at the core.”
The findings came from the latest IBM Institute for Business Value CEO study, conducted in partnership with Oxford Economics, which surveyed 2,000 chief executives and senior leaders across 33 countries and 21 industries between February and April this year.
The study highlighted how Philippine executives are moving aggressively toward AI adoption as businesses race to modernize operations, improve decision-making, and respond to intensifying competition.
“APAC CEOs are setting the global pace for AI adoption, moving decisively beyond experimentation toward AI-driven leadership,” IBM Consulting Asia Pacific (APAC) Managing Director Juhi McClelland said.
“What stands out is not only their confidence in the technology, but how deliberately they are embedding AI at the core of decision-making and operations — with a clear willingness to move early and move fast, even amid uncertainty,” McClelland added.
The survey found that 93 percent of Philippine CEOs believe changes in the competitive environment are happening faster than their organizations can fully adapt processes and budgets, significantly higher than the 78-percent global average.
At the same time, 97 percent of respondents said compressing operating cycles has become essential in changing the trajectory of their organizations, compared to 86 percent globally.
The pressure to move quickly is also reshaping how companies assess investments.
Impact on decision-making
According to the report, 83 percent of Philippine CEOs said AI has already changed the criteria they use in evaluating investment opportunities as firms increasingly prioritize speed, automation and digital capability.
However, the study also pointed to a growing disconnect between urgency and long-term strategy.
Only 63 percent of Philippine CEOs surveyed said they have a clear vision of how AI solutions tailored to their organizations’ needs will deliver competitive advantage, suggesting that many firms are still navigating how to effectively integrate the technology into business operations.
The study further showed that Philippine executives are increasingly comfortable relying on AI for both strategic and operational decisions.
Around 80 percent of Philippine CEOs surveyed said they are comfortable making major strategic decisions using AI-generated insights, exceeding the 64-percent global average.
Meanwhile, 73 percent of Philippine executives believe tactical and operational decisions can be made more quickly and effectively by AI than by people, compared to the global average of 57 percent.
IBM said the rapid adoption of AI is also reshaping leadership structures within companies.
Nearly all Philippine CEOs surveyed, or 97 percent, said functional leaders are now expected to become technology experts within their respective domains as AI becomes more deeply embedded across organizations.
The study also showed that 87 percent of Philippine executives are decentralizing decision-making and distributing accountability more broadly as AI assumes a larger role across enterprises.
By 2030, CEOs expect AI to independently make 49 percent of operational decisions where consistency and guardrails can be clearly defined, up from 25 percent today.
Despite the aggressive push toward AI, Philippine companies continue to emphasize the importance of workforce readiness.
The report found that 90 percent of Philippine CEOs believe the success of AI initiatives depends more on employee adoption than on the technology itself.
Between 2026 and 2028, Philippine executives expect 55 percent of workers to require upskilling to perform their existing roles more effectively, while 31 percent may need reskilling for entirely different jobs.
