PLDT, Smart push AI-ready Philippines with focus on accessible, responsible innovation

By TechWatch PH Staff

As artificial intelligence adoption accelerates across the Philippines, ensuring broad, responsible access to AI has become critical to driving inclusive digital transformation across industries and communities.

For 2026, PLDT Inc. is strengthening the country’s participation in the global AI landscape through a strategy anchored on leadership, infrastructure, and community enablement.

Central to this effort are the Group’s investments in AI-ready infrastructure, including the country’s largest integrated fixed and wireless networks and VITRO Sta. Rosa, the Philippines’ first hyperscale data center built specifically for AI workloads.

Located in Laguna’s fast-growing tech corridor, VITRO Sta. Rosa was inaugurated last year by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. together with PLDT Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan. Developed by VITRO Inc., the Group’s data center arm, the facility is designed to support high-performance AI computing at scale.

VITRO Sta. Rosa also hosts Pilipinas AI, the country’s first sovereign AI solutions stack. The platform enables Philippine enterprises to deploy AI capabilities without having to build or manage their own infrastructure, while ensuring that data and workloads remain hosted locally—addressing both performance and data-sovereignty requirements for public and private sector users.

To lead this push, PLDT appointed Blums S. Pineda as Group AI Business Lead, reinforcing the company’s focus on building AI capabilities that directly support businesses and communities. According to Pineda, PLDT Enterprise is developing AI use cases for sectors such as banking and financial services, business process outsourcing, healthcare, government, and utilities, with the goal of optimizing processes, improving productivity, and enhancing customer experience.

“With our AI-ready ecosystem, and our investments in infrastructure and people, the PLDT Group is ready to help more Filipino communities, businesses, and enterprises harness AI to boost productivity, competitiveness, and innovation,” Pineda said.

Alongside PLDT, its wireless subsidiary Smart Communications, Inc. is advancing multi-sectoral AI adoption across government, education, non-government organizations, MSMEs, media groups, and community-based organizations—positioning AI as accessible, practical, and relevant to everyday Filipino needs.

“We are not just introducing communities to AI. We are leading the way in championing its responsible and meaningful use,” said Stephanie V. Orlino, assistant vice president and head of stakeholder engagement at PLDT and Smart. She noted that initiatives across schools, local government units, enterprises, and media organizations are focused on making AI empowering rather than intimidating.

In 2025, PLDT and Smart launched AI-in-a-Box, a digital empowerment initiative that brings AI closer to communities by combining tools, connectivity, training, and ongoing support. The program has reached local government workers in areas such as the Bicol Region and Balanga, Bataan, and has been integrated into education, livelihood, and inclusion programs for students, teachers, universities, MSMEs, and business owners from Baguio to BARMM.

One participant, Nisa Ibrahim of the Lemba nu Bangsamoro Marketing Cooperative, said the training helped demystify AI for small enterprises. She shared that learning how AI tools work has opened new opportunities for promoting their products online and improving business prospects.

PLDT and Smart have also partnered with ATRIEV to conduct AI for Accessibility trainings, introducing AI-powered tools to teachers, parents of persons with disabilities, and digital skills trainers, highlighting how technology can help break barriers in communication, education, and access to information.

In the media sector, the Group has collaborated with regional media organizations across Metro Manila, Cebu, Eastern Visayas, Cagayan de Oro, and Davao to conduct AI and digital security workshops for journalists. These sessions focus on integrating AI tools into newsroom workflows while reinforcing ethical and responsible journalism. Media partners across Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao were also provided with AI-in-a-Box kits for newsroom use, including Smart 5G connectivity and access to premium AI tools for research, analysis, and content production.

To encourage youth innovation, PLDT and Smart recently hosted the DATAxYOUTH AI Innovation Challenge at the University of the Philippines Diliman, bringing together students from Metro Manila colleges and universities. Winning teams from the Technological Institute of the Philippines and National University presented AI-driven solutions focused on fake-news detection, flood-control monitoring, and real-time early warning systems for local governments.

These initiatives form part of PLDT and Smart’s broader commitment to community empowerment through technology, aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals—particularly SDG 4 on quality education and SDG 9 on industry, innovation, and infrastructure—underscoring the role of responsible AI in driving inclusive national progress.