AI’s new frontier: Unlocking innovation while ensuring trust

As Artificial Intelligence continues to disrupt and revolutionize industries worldwide, the question of governance becomes increasingly urgent. On March 5, 2025, the Makati Business Club, in collaboration with IBM, hosted an executive roundtable discussion about AI Governance, bringing together thought leaders and business leaders to explore the evolving AI landscape, regulatory challenges, and ethical considerations in responsible AI adoption. 

“Trust is the foundation of AI adoption. If you can’t explain AI, you can’t encourage its use,” said Ida Chao Kho, Worldwide  Emerging Regulatory Policy Senior Counsel for AI, Privacy, Cyber, and Data Governance at IBM. Kho underscored that, as AI adoption accelerates across multiple industries, organizations must focus on fostering trust through transparency and explainability. She noted that AI’s impact extends beyond efficiency gains, highlighting its ethical and societal implications that demand proactive governance. With businesses and regulators worldwide grappling with these challenges, she emphasized that AI governance must balance enabling innovation and ensuring accountability.  

Kicking off the discussion, Aileen Judan-Jiao, Country General Manager and Technology Leader of IBM Philippines highlighted a crucial reality: “AI will not replace people, but AI will replace people who don’t use AI in the future or now.” The Philippines is already seeing AI adoption in various sectors, but the challenge lies in ensuring its sustainable adoption and maximizing its potential responsibly. 

Global AI regulation: Is Interoperability possible?

Kho emphasized the complexity of AI governance across different nations. She pointed out that while countries like Singapore have established AI ethics and governance frameworks, a unified global approach remains a challenge.  

Kho asked, “Can we set some standards or a baseline that would meet most of them, if not all so that there would be efficiency and the ability to respect regulations?”. With shifts in AI policies, creating adaptable, interoperable frameworks becomes essential.  

The Role of Trust in AI Adoption

Before the rise of generative AI chat assistants in 2023, concerns over trust and explainability were already shaping AI governance discussions. Kho stressed, “You can’t encourage adoption if you can’t explain or understand AI.” This underlines the need for transparent and explainable AI models that build user confidence. Moreover, she discussed how privacy regulations, particularly in the EU, have influenced AI policies, laying the groundwork for ethical considerations in AI development and cybersecurity risk management.

Transforming PH Businesses with AI 

Beyond global governance, the conversation also touched on how AI is transforming businesses in the Philippines. Panelists discussed how companies can responsibly integrate AI while mitigating risks through strong governance frameworks. Collaboration between businesses, regulators, and policymakers was identified as a key strategy to foster AI adoption while ensuring ethical compliance. 

Atty. Divina Ilas-Panganiban, Partner in Quisumbing Torres Law’s Intellectual Property, Data and Technology Practice Group,  emphasized the need for clearer enforceable AI policies in the Philippines. She highlighted recent moves by the National Privacy Commission (NPC), which last December, released guidelines on AI use, focusing on transparency, sustainability, and data protection. The guidelines stress the importance of informing data subjects about the purpose and nature of processing, if there’s automated decision-making, and if there’s profiling within AI systems. She encouraged businesses to ensure compliance by providing a clear privacy notice or getting consent if it involves sensitive personal information. 

Atty. Regina Jacinto-Barrientos, CEO of PJS Law and Co-Founder of UNAWA, a regulatory technology company keeping her on the beat with the tech industry, rounded out the discussion as the moderator with a key takeaway “There have been several key principles highlighted that can serve as our guiding framework: governance, ethics, transparency, and explainability. While AI is readily accessible and increasingly easy to use, it is essential for us to approach it responsibly by asking the right questions.”   

AI Ethics: A Collective Human Responsibility

AI governance at its core, is about human decision-making. Kho summed it perfectly that “At the end of the day, AI Ethics is only about how people choose to use the data and the systems.” While AI has the potential to drive incredible value, ethical AI use depends on responsible application, not just technical advancements. This leads us to the importance of building systems for accountability. One of the key takeaways from the discussion was the need to design systems that ensure accountability, rather than placing the burden of compliance solely on individuals. Kho emphasized that “If there’s one thing I learned in the course of my years doing legal and compliance, it is that you have to make it easy for the user, so that it is systematized that way, so that you won’t leave the burden of failure to individuals. That system enables us to do that.” 

The roundtable discussion concluded with a compelling call to action to collaborate in building AI governance frameworks that ensure trust, accountability, and innovation. With AI rapidly reshaping industries, businesses, regulators, and stakeholders must work together to strike the balance between progress and ethical responsibility. 

In closing, Ida Chao Kho left the audience with a powerful quote from Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” This encouraged participants to take this discussion forward, highlighting the importance of discussing AI governance with leadership teams, management, and the boards of directors. In this way, we can also help shape and change how AI is governed in our country’s future.  

This executive roundtable discussion marked the first session in a three-part AI in Action series by IBM and MBC. Each roundtable discussion will feature a demonstration, providing firsthand insights into how Artificial Intelligence operates. Two more discussions are set to take place over the next two quarters. These sessions will further explore the trust and security of AI ethics and how AI can impact smart agriculture, AI for good, and AI for securing data.  

ADVT.

This article is brought to you by Makati Business Club.