In a world of AI, the human touch is important

(This speech was given at the awarding ceremony of the Foundation for Liberty and Prosperity on Sept. 2 at the Manila Polo Club, Makati City. It has been lightly edited for brevity.)

IT IS ALWAYS GRATIFYING to meet talented young Filipinos — be they lawyers or gymnasts — because I get to feel the hope and ambition in our youth. Like yourselves, I was a scholar in my academic life.

When I was about to graduate from college at the Ateneo, I yearned for an MBA degree in the US. Coming home from school one Saturday afternoon, I mustered enough courage to talk to my father and tell him I wanted to get to the MBA program at Harvard or Wharton. I was met with silence. His unspoken message was plain and clear — “hijo, we don’t have the money to send you abroad.”

It was a Procter & Gamble scholarship that allowed me to go to Wharton. I had to earn the scholarship in a national competition. The irony was when I applied with P&G for a job post — I was turned down. Tough luck, right?

Being only 20 years old when I stepped into Dietrich Hall, I didn’t know how cold winters were in Philadelphia — and the suits my dad had made for me proved rather thin for the arctic weather. Seeing the Penn campus totally deserted during my first Thanksgiving was an entirely new experience in loneliness.

I also learned that going straight to graduate school from college at that young age was sub-optimal. My advice is to have about five years of experience in the real world before grad school. As an example, I did merger accounting in Wharton, and knew how to do the sums — but I couldn’t relate the numbers to the real world of business.

Finally, I now know what President Hoover once said about American “rugged individualism.” I prepared my own dinners, did the laundry, managed spending holidays by myself since I had no money to go to New York — all the while competing with the best of the best at Wharton.

CREATIVE ECONOMY AND PROSPERITY
It does occur to me, however, that your grad school experience is likely to be wildly different from my own. For one, there is the age gap of two generations. When I was in high school, the future Attorney Liza Araneta was just about to be born — as well as J.Lo. Only five of you will be taking MBAs; the rest of you are aspiring lawyers. Which is why I’m trying to keep my remarks short. In a room filled with law students and legal luminaries like Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban I’m a little wary of taking too much time — lest one of you bill me for it.

But apart from age and your chosen field of study, the biggest difference between our generations is that you must compete with artificial intelligence. I dare say the battle will be tough. Digital defines almost all aspects of our everyday lives. In fact, when you use digital to describe yourself, you are about 10 years behind the times. So, drop the adjective “digital” — since most everything, everywhere is digital.

Generative artificial intelligence has the capacity to curate huge amounts of data, and create new content — video, audio, and text — which resemble human intelligence. And because its products — even if artificial — are looped back into the system, it can learn and become, over time, more human-like. AI will get smarter over time — so we must be wary of what AI can do now, and more so, what it might be able to do in the future, which leads me to this important point — the nexus between the values this foundation espouses — liberty and prosperity — with artificial intelligence, must be articulated.

Many thinkers believe that the human advantage lies in freedom of thought, creative expression, and Filipinos’ native ability for storytelling — in today’s vocabulary — “marites.” Algorithms are the home court of AI, and these can be rigid and fundamentalist — and we should distinguish ourselves not by competing with them, but by exercising liberty of thought, our talent to think, and combining our creative and innovative powers with AI. This is essential in our continuing pursuit for prosperity.

Just remember this — you will not be replaced by AI per se. You can be replaced by a person using AI.

THE HUMAN TOUCH
Indeed, AI can handle enormous mountains of data and automate repetitive and increasingly complex tasks, but it can’t replace the human touch — our empathy, our ability to connect, and our capacity to navigate through emotions or crises (my helicopter crash!). These are the qualities that will keep you relevant, not just as professionals, but as people. In a world where technology does the heavy lifting, it’s your ability to bring understanding, compassion, and insight to the table that will truly set you apart.

The highs of digital connections, as well as the peaks delivered by the loftiest landmark legal decisions and dissertations, may provide a different version of our world. Now and again, we must learn to return to the pressing needs and the real lives of our communities — to be as humble and realistic as when we first entered grade school. Your greatest challenge is to harness the potential of AI with man’s fundamental right to self-expression — free from restraint, or from the slavery of technology — and address our real enemy — the poverty of our people.

In this digital age — where content is infinite, and TikTok is unli — you must also choose wisely what you pay attention to. These days, deep fakes can be dangerous, despite your education. Be wary of social media bubbles — meet people in person, shake their hands, look them in the eye. And if the need or opportunity arises, extend a helping hand. A real one.

RIGHT TO DREAM
Let me conclude by saying how pleased and encouraged I am by being part of this forum.

But as I take my leave, I ask that you do me just one favor. Exercise your right to dream. Sure, you must face reality. But dream of a future that ought to be — that must be. I want you to be what John F. Kennedy wanted himself to be — “an idealist without any illusions.” You may or may not get there, but you must try. And hold on, and hold out. Don’t just insist on heroes — become one yourself.

Finally, through God’s providence, may each of you travel well that precious journey towards that fact called life, and may your future be worthy of your dreams.

Manuel V. Pangilinan sits at the helm of the Metro Pacific Investments Corp. as its chairman and president.