'I feel like I dug my own grave': The workers caught in the AI transition

"I feel like I dug my own grave," remarked a worker caught in the AI transition in the Philippines, the world's call center hub.

For 15 years, Lisa, a single mother, earned her living as a content writer. After college, she freelanced for several years before joining a multinational company in the Philippines' thriving outsourcing sector, a common path for young Filipinos.

Lisa stated she never saw a need for artificial intelligence (AI) in her work. "I can say that I am able to do my job, I meet deadlines. In my opinion, there is no need for [AI]," she informed the BBC.

Eight months into her latest role, and just one month before her position was to become permanent, she was laid off.

In the preceding months, Lisa recounted that a public relations agency was tasked with generating AI-produced content, which she and her colleagues were then asked to edit. She believes her skills were used to train the AI on the company's specific writing style.

"I feel like I dug my own grave," she said. "We were the ones who trained the artificial intelligence that replaced us."

Lisa, whose name has been changed, is one of several former outsourcing employees who spoke to the BBC anonymously. They signed confidentiality agreements for severance pay and fear that public disclosure could harm their job prospects in a closely-knit industry.

Their experiences highlight a critical question facing developing economies like the Philippines: what happens when AI automates the jobs that have propelled millions into the middle class?

Each evening around 5 pm, streams of workers, identifiable by their company lanyards, exit high-rise offices in Manila's Cubao district. This area is one of several in the capital where multinational corporations operate, providing diverse outsourcing services such as call centers, accounting, software development, and marketing copy for international clients.

For over two decades, these business districts have symbolized a major economic triumph for the Philippines. Starting in the early 2000s, the country was promoted as an English-speaking alternative to India for business process outsourcing (BPO).

Successive governments offered tax incentives, invested in infrastructure, and encouraged multinational companies to establish large-scale operations. Global firms like Accenture, Concentrix, and Teleperformance built extensive campuses, employing hundreds of thousands of Filipinos.

Currently, the outsourcing industry employs approximately 1.9 million people and generates $40 billion (£30.1 billion) in annual revenues, contributing about 10% to the Philippines' economy. However, experts suggest the industry is particularly susceptible to the effects of AI.

The International Labour Organization estimates that 12.7 million Filipinos—over one in four workers—are in occupations exposed to generative AI, the highest proportion in Southeast Asia. While the organization anticipates many roles will evolve rather than disappear, the nature of service jobs in the Philippines makes it especially vulnerable.

Jack Madrid, president of the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP), acknowledged the sector's adoption of AI. He noted that over two-thirds of IBPAP's members are already conducting AI pilot programs.

"Agentic AI has the potential to automate at a much more accelerated pace," Madrid stated. "Obviously, there's a layer of jobs that are automatable or have been automated." He added, however, that most affected workers have been reassigned within their existing organizations.

Madrid attributed any slowdown in hiring to factors beyond AI's impact. "We've seen a slowdown in investment decisions on whether certain job functions or processes should be offshored," he explained, citing reduced global demand and uncertainty regarding how companies will ultimately deploy the technology.

Despite this, he recognized the challenge. "We cannot do enough to be prepared," he said, emphasizing that "the importance of reskilling" cannot be overstated.

Mary, another former content writer whose name has been changed, said her employer encouraged AI use as a productivity tool. Instead of simplifying her job, she found it created additional responsibilities. "We had to edit more, fact-check more because the data AI produced was inaccurate," she explained. "Technically it was more work for us." Like Lisa, she was later made redundant.

Experts indicate that companies are under pressure to implement AI to cut costs and boost productivity. Teleperformance, the world's largest call center operator and a major private employer in the Philippines, has stated that AI presents an opportunity to augment, rather than replace, its workforce. The company expects AI to handle routine interactions, allowing human agents to transition to more complex roles. Teleperformance also plans to retrain employees.

Accenture has similarly asserted that generative AI will reshape nearly every job rather than eliminate positions. The firm has pledged to invest billions in AI capabilities and workforce training. Concentrix, the largest outsourcing firm in the Philippines, maintains that its AI systems will remain under human oversight and has committed to training employees in the new technology.

According to Paul Quintos from the University of the Philippines-Diliman, some Filipino managers are apprehensive about AI and wish to slow its adoption, concerned about potential displacement of the domestic workforce. "But there's tremendous pressure from foreign clients to adopt AI," he noted. "It's a major cost-cutting measure."

Philippine outsourcing companies directly compete with rivals in India and other countries for contracts from multinational corporations. Increasingly, these clients expect suppliers not only to offer cheaper labor but also to integrate AI into their services.

Despite hundreds of billions of dollars invested globally in AI, Quintos stated there is still limited evidence regarding the actual productivity gains delivered by many workplace tools. "There is a term called 'AI washing'," he said.

Quintos suggested that some layoffs are presented as AI-driven when companies are, in fact, responding to weaker demand or slowing economic conditions. Attributing redundancies to AI, he added, can make restructuring appear as technological progress rather than a reaction to market realities.

Labor groups have informed the BBC that existing employment laws in the Philippines address redundancy but offer little guidance on how companies should introduce AI into workplaces or consult employees about its use. The Philippines' outsourcing sector is also non-unionized, leaving many workers with limited formal input on the deployment of new technologies.

The government acknowledges its and the private sector's responsibility to retrain workers, warning of the risk of falling behind competitors like India and Singapore. "To be completely honest, I think we're slightly behind. We have to catch up," said Leandro Aguirre of the Philippines Department of Information and Communications Technology. "We have to double our efforts to put our people in a position where they will not be displaced but actually thrive in this growing AI race."

The government has committed to upskilling over 300,000 outsourcing workers, but Aguirre admitted that the Philippines may need to re-evaluate the economic model that established it as an outsourcing hub. "We relied heavily on foreign direct investment," he said. "But I think we also need to focus on local talent and local companies." The ambition, he stated, is to foster home-grown AI companies capable of creating higher-value jobs.

Aguirre dismissed calls for extensive new AI legislation, arguing that existing labor, privacy, and consumer protection laws can be adapted more swiftly through regulatory guidance. "The benefits of AI have to trickle down to people," he asserted. "It can't just benefit employers."

For over two decades, the Philippines built one of the world's most successful outsourcing industries by leveraging its skilled workforce for multinational companies. While AI may not dismantle this model, it is undeniably transforming it, potentially leaving some workers behind.

*Additional reporting by Jaltson Akkanath Chummar and Regine Cabato.*