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For 15 years, single mother Lisa made a living from content writing.
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Lisa → publish → writing
She began writing straight out of college, freelanced for years and eventually followed a path taken by many young Filipinos: joining a multinational in the country's booming outsourcing industry.
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She → begin → industry
Lisa says she never felt the need to use artificial intelligence (AI) in her work.
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she → say → work
"I can say that I am able to do my job, I meet deadlines.
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I → say → deadlines
In my opinion, there is no need for [AI]," she told the BBC.
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she → be → BBC
Eight months into her latest role, and one month before the position was due to become permanent, she was made redundant.
In the months before, Lisa says a public relations agency had been tasked with producing AI-generated material that she and her colleagues were asked to edit.
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she → become → that
She says her skills were used to train the AI on the company writing style.
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skills → say → style
"I feel like I dug my own grave," she says.
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she → feel → grave
"We were the ones who trained the artificial intelligence that replaced us."
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that → train → us
Lisa, not her real name, is one of several former outsourcing employees the BBC spoke to who asked to remain anonymous.
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who → speak → employees
They signed confidentiality agreements in return for severance pay, and fear that speaking publicly could hurt their chances of finding work in an industry which has a small network.
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which → sign → network
Their experiences offer an insight into a question confronting emerging economies like the Philippines: what happens when AI begins to automate the jobs that helped lift millions of people into the middle classes?
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that → offer → classes
Building an industry
Every evening around 5pm, streams of workers wearing company lanyards spill out of high-rise offices in the district of Cubao in Manila.
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streams → build → Manila
It's one of several areas of the capital where multinational companies have premises – providing all sorts of outsourcing work including call centres, accounting, software development and marketing copy services for clients thousands of miles away.
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companies → have → miles
For over two decades, these business districts have symbolised one of the Philippines' biggest economic success stories.
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districts → symbolise → stories
Beginning in the early 2000s, the country was promoted as an English-speaking alternative to India for what's called business process outsourcing (BPO).
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what → begin → India
Successive governments offered tax incentives, invested in infrastructure and encouraged multinational companies to set up large operations.
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governments → offer → operations
Global groups like Accenture, Concentrix and Teleperformance built sprawling campuses, employing hundreds of thousands of Filipinos.
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groups → build → Filipinos
Today, the outsourcing industry employs roughly 1.9 million people, and generates $40bn (£30.1bn) in revenues every year, accounting for about 10% of the Philippines' economy.
But experts say the industry is disproportionately vulnerable to the impact of AI.
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industry → employ → AI
The International Labour Organization estimates that 12.7 million Filipinos - more than one in four workers - are employed in occupations exposed to generative AI, the highest share in South East Asia.
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Filipinos → estimate → Asia
The organisation expects many roles to change rather than disappear but the types of service jobs that people do in the Philippines leaves it particularly at risk.
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people → expect → risk
Jack Madrid, president of the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP), admits that AI is being adopted by the sector.
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AI → admit → sector
More than two-thirds of IBPAP's members are already running AI pilots, he says.
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he → run → pilots
"Agentic AI has the potential to automate at a much more accelerated pace," Madrid says.
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Madrid → have → pace
"Obviously, there's a layer of jobs that are automatable or have been automated.
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that → be → jobs
But he adds that the vast majority of affected workers have been redeployed within the same organisations.
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majority → add → organisations
Madrid says any weakness in hiring reflects more than the impact of AI.
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weakness → say → AI
"We've seen a slowdown in investment decisions on whether certain job functions or processes should be offshored," he says, pointing to slower global demand and uncertainty over how companies will ultimately deploy the technology.
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companies → see → technology
Even so, he acknowledges the challenge.
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he → acknowledge → challenge
"We cannot do enough to be prepared," he says.
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he → do → enough
"The importance of reskilling" cannot be overstated.
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importance → overstate → reskilling
The pressure to automate
Mary, another former content writer whose name we've changed, says her employer encouraged the use of AI as a productivity tool.
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employer → automate → tool
Instead of making her job easier, she says it created additional responsibilities.
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it → make → responsibilities
"We had to edit more, fact-check more because the data AI produced was inaccurate," she says.
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she → have → more
Like Lisa, she was later made redundant.
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she → make → Lisa
Companies are under pressure to implement AI, to reduce costs and increase productivity, experts say.
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experts → implement → productivity
Teleperformance, the world's largest call centre operator and one of the Philippines' biggest private employers, has said AI offers an opportunity to augment rather than replace its workforce.
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AI → say → workforce
The company expects AI to handle routine interactions while human agents move into more complex roles.
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agents → expect → roles
Teleperformance has also said it plans to retrain employees.
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it → say → employees
Accenture has similarly said that generative AI will reshape almost every job rather than eliminate positions.
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AI → say → positions
…and 25 more, not listed.
The Aporia
