Gogolook amplifies push for ethical AI adoption, agile frameworks across ASEAN businesses

• IN PHOTO: Gogolook Country Head and General Manager Mel Migriño during the BusinessWorld Economic Forum titled “Advancing the ASEAN Agenda: Turning Regional Vision to Corporate Action” held on May 18 at the Grand Hyatt Manila.

Gogolook stood firm on the need for businesses across the ASEAN region to treat artificial intelligence (AI) adoption as a strategic necessity for long-term survival and growth amid the rapidly evolving digital economy.

Speaking during the BusinessWorld Economic Forum titled “Advancing the ASEAN Agenda: Turning Regional Vision to Corporate Action” held on May 18 at the Grand Hyatt Manila, Gogolook Country Head and General Manager Mel Migriño said AI-as-a-Service (AIaaS) and cloud platforms are now helping democratize advanced computing tools once accessible only to large corporations.

“The integration of Artificial Intelligence into business enterprises is a strategic necessity for survival and growth,” Migriño said.

According to her, AI technologies are helping organizations overcome traditional operational limitations by automating repetitive processes, improving decision-making, and accelerating innovation.

Migriño identified four major focus areas where AI is reshaping enterprise operations: operational efficiency, predictive market intelligence, enhanced customer engagement, and faster time-to-market for products and services.

She said AI-powered tools allow companies to automate repetitive workflows, reduce operational costs, and free employees to focus on higher-value tasks.

Migriño also highlighted the growing role of AI agents in scanning market data and customer sentiment in real time, allowing businesses to react more quickly to market shifts and customer behavior.

On customer engagement, Migriño noted that AI enables dynamic customer re-segmentation and personalized communication at scale, helping businesses build deeper long-term relationships with consumers.

She added that AI technologies are also helping enterprises accelerate the rollout of targeted products and services by immediately addressing customer needs and providing companies with a competitive edge.

However, Migriño emphasized that rapid AI adoption should be paired with ethical safeguards and agile governance frameworks.

She introduced the SAFE-AI framework, or Scalable Agile Framework for Execution, which she described as a methodology designed to balance fast-paced AI development with ethical and responsible deployment practices.

The framework includes four stages: discovery, assessment, development, and monitoring.

Under the discovery phase, organizations identify potential biases and risks in training data while defining responsibility metrics. The assessment stage evaluates false prediction risks, societal impact, privacy, security, and the integrity of AI systems and infrastructure.

Migriño said the development stage includes automated triggers that review code for transparency and fairness during the software-building process, while the monitoring phase involves continuous auditing of AI outputs to ensure systems remain accurate and unbiased after deployment.

She added that continuous training of AI models is also critical in detecting emerging scams and fraud tactics as cyber threats continue to evolve.

She warned that many AI ethics initiatives fail because ethical principles are often disconnected from operational execution.

“A principle without control is a slogan. A control without evidence is a hope,” Migriño said.

The Gogolook executive also cautioned companies against falling into the so-called “pilot trap,” where AI projects succeed in testing environments but fail during actual deployment.

To avoid this, she urged organizations to adopt phased AI implementation strategies centered on business-first use cases, data readiness, and human-centric change management.

Migriño stressed that businesses should first identify high-value and low-risk operational problems before deploying AI technologies.

She also underscored the importance of resolving fragmented enterprise data systems and establishing unified data architectures, calling data readiness a key requirement for successful AI adoption in 2026.

On workforce integration, Migriño said AI should augment human workers rather than fully replace them, advocating for “human-in-the-loop” frameworks where AI handles routine tasks while employees focus on strategy, creativity, and decision-making.