Labour groups have told the BBC that existing employment laws in the Philippines govern redundancy but offer little guidance on how companies should introduce AI into workplaces or consult employees over its use.

The Philippines' outsourcing sector is also non-unionised, leaving many workers with little formal say over how new technologies are deployed.

The government says that it, and the private sector have a responsibility to retrain workers, and risks falling behind competitors like India and Singapore.

"To be completely honest, I think we're slightly behind. We have to catch up," says 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 more than 300,000 outsourcing workers, but Aguirre acknowledges that the Philippines may need to rethink the economic model that helped make it an outsourcing centre.

"We relied heavily on foreign direct investment," he says. "But I think we also need to focus on local talent and local companies."

The ambition, he says, is to build home-grown AI companies capable of creating higher-value jobs.

Aguirre rejects calls for sweeping new AI legislation, arguing that existing labour, privacy and consumer protection laws can be adapted more quickly through regulatory guidance.

"The benefits of AI have to trickle down to people," he says. "It can't just benefit employers."

For more than 20 years, the Philippines built one of the world's most successful outsourcing industries by selling the skills of its people to multinational companies.

AI may not end that model, but it is certainly changing it, and risks leaving some workers behind.

Additional reporting by Jaltson Akkanath Chummar and Regine Cabato