EARLIER in June, amid rising momentum in AI adoption, we launched the Philippine edition of our National AI Prompt Design Challenge, now in its final judging stage.
This is the country’s first event of its kind, co-organized with the Analytics and AI Association of the Philippines (AAP). It marks the first of two planned runs of the challenge in the Philippines, starting with Metro Manila and Luzon. The idea is simple: to make AI capabilities more widely accessible and showcase the Philippines’ potential to develop an AI-ready workforce.
Aligned with the Philippines’ National Artificial Intelligence Strategy Roadmap 2.0 (NAISR 2.0), the challenge promotes safe and responsible generative AI innovation among business professionals and youth. By creating opportunities for people of all backgrounds to acquire AI capabilities and effectively leverage the technology, the challenge is also in step with the national government’s aim to establish the Philippines as a center of excellence in AI research and development — reflected in the Department of Trade and Industry’s creation of the Center for AI Research (CAIR).
Democratizing AI capabilities
For us, the event is about providing participants with hands-on experience in prompt engineering techniques and responsible app development practices to address business challenges. The first run of the Philippine National AI Prompt Design Challenge took place at three higher education institutions in Makati, Laguna, and Pampanga on June 17, 18, and 20, 2025. More than 500 professionals and youth gained practical skills in the no-code creation of generative AI tools, an area that has seen growing interest in the country.
Held at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), Mapúa Malayan Colleges Laguna (MMCL), and Angeles University Foundation (AUF), the event drew participants from more than 20 industries and 40 schools, with some traveling from as far as Quezon and Pangasinan. Nearly 200 apps were built and submitted on Capabara, Straits Interactive’s generative AI platform.
It was inspiring to see submissions that were both diverse and innovative — from digitalization of government services to productivity bots, AI tutors personalizing student learning, image analysis tools, and diagnostic assistants.
Submissions steeped in Filipino culture also stood out, including apps that engage users with Filipino heroes or teach social etiquette. This multisector representation highlighted the creativity and ingenuity of Filipino innovators and their potential to integrate AI meaningfully into everyday life.
We believe the strong support from major sponsors reflects growing industry confidence in the Philippines’ ability to cultivate an AI-ready workforce.
Effective, responsible AI app design
Submissions are evaluated based on a balance of creativity, real-world application, and technical security. We assessed participants in several areas, including functionality, user experience, innovation, benefits and potential, and security and ethics.
AI BOOM With the artificial intelligence market projected to reach P221 billion by 2031, companies across the Philippines are embracing the cost-saving and efficiency benefits of AI-powered solutions.
Functionality focused on how well the tool performed its core task, delivered accurate results, and used a combination of chain-of-thought reasoning, file uploads, and datasets to solve real-world problems. A good user experience meant the app had to be intuitive and logically designed so that even nontechnical users could navigate it easily. Judges also looked for originality and impact, assessing scalability and relevance. Most importantly, each tool needed built-in safeguards against adversarial prompts, as well as transparency and personal data privacy.
This approach ensures winners demonstrate not only app-building competence but also a strong commitment to safe and ethical AI use. It also offers a practical framework for business professionals developing or evaluating AI projects.
Next Wave of AI-centric jobs in PH
With the artificial intelligence market projected to reach $3.85 billion (P221 billion) by 2031, companies across the Philippines are embracing the cost-saving and efficiency benefits of AI-powered solutions.
Given the country’s strong position in the global business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, AI integration into back-office roles could become one of the biggest multipliers for growth.
But with this boom comes a shift in workforce requirements and a growing need for AI governance among firms using or developing generative AI tools. Emerging roles such as AI ethicists, AI trainers, and automation consultants are just the beginning. In a few years, we’ll likely work alongside AI agents — not just as tools, but as teammates.
This makes AI literacy essential. Prompt engineering — the art of communicating effectively with large language models (LLMs) to generate desired outputs — is quickly becoming as fundamental as Microsoft Office proficiency. Those without these skills risk being left behind.
Why Capability-as-a-Service is vital for businesses
Adopting AI isn’t just about subscribing to tools and expecting a silver bullet. True digital transformation requires building individual competencies and organizational capabilities — a blend of knowledge, skills, technology, processes, and adaptability. In markets like the Philippines, where large corporations often have access to AI tools but face low adoption due to skills gaps, capability-building is key to bridging that divide. To address this, our Capability-as-a-Service (CaaS) model emphasizes AI-enhanced training, the Capabara platform, and expert-led advisory services to help organizations integrate AI responsibly and sustainably.
Through partnerships with institutions, we deliver programs that pair generative AI tutors with hands-on exercises to upskill professionals across various business functions. The Capabara platform also enables nontechnical users to build and adopt AI tools without coding, empowering teams to embed AI into workflows. Complementing this is our governance-by-design approach, which offers privacy safeguards and expert guidance to ensure ethical and effective AI adoption.
Together, these elements equip organizations to scale and govern AI across departments for meaningful impact.
Future collaborations to nurture AI capabilities
The first National AI Prompt Design Challenge in the Philippines is just the beginning of the country’s digital transformation journey. We’ll soon announce the second leg of the challenge, scheduled for the last quarter of this year in the Visayas and Mindanao.
Straits Interactive is also committed to deepening partnerships with Philippine educational institutions and businesses to enhance AI literacy. For example, our latest collaboration with Adamson University’s Adamson Center for Executive Studies (ACES) will launch an Advanced Certificate in Generative AI App Design and Prompt Engineering. The program will provide participants with the practical knowledge and frameworks needed to build AI-powered solutions that deliver real business value.
By empowering Filipinos to build AI capabilities — not just adopt technology — we can collectively shape an AI-driven future that is innovative, inclusive, and responsible.
Alvin Toh is the co-founder of Straits Interactive, a Singapore based IT services and consulting company founded in 2013, specializing in data protection, governance, risk and compliance (GRC) solutions.
Be the first to comment