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TL;DR:Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing jobs while making it easier for individuals to run businesses. In thePhilippines, banking leaders say affordable credit and better ways to assess solo entrepreneurs could determine whether AI helps more workers become business owners.
- AI can automate tasks without necessarily eliminating entire jobs, with routine data-processing roles particularly exposed.
- AI tools can help one-person companies handle research, marketing, customer service, bookkeeping, and administrative work.
- The Philippines has 74.95 million working-age people and a median age of 27.7, according to PSA’s 2024 Census of Population data.
- Banking leaders said wider access to SME financing is critical to encouraging more Filipinos to pursue entrepreneurship.
As AI takes over routine work, some jobs may disappear, but the technology is also making it possible for one person to build and run a business. So how can workers benefit from that shift? It may depend on whether banks are willing to finance them.
Artificial intelligence is beginning to change not only how people work, but what it means to build a business. As routine roles, like those involving repetitive data processing, become more vulnerable to automation, AI tools are also enabling individuals to handle research, marketing, customer service, bookkeeping, and other functions that once required an entire team.
This is giving rise to a new kind of borrower: the AI-enabled entrepreneur running a one-person company.
For the Philippines, the question is no longer only how many jobs AI could eliminate. It is whether the same technology can help more Filipinos move from employment into entrepreneurship and whether the country’s banks are prepared to support them with affordable credit.
These insights came from a Fintech News Network Singapore webinar moderated by Chief Editor Vincent Fong. EastWest Banking Corp. (NASDAQ: EWBC) CEO Jerry Ngo, Tyme Group Head of Group Strategy Anxin Leong, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Senior Director and Financial Services Business Lead for Asia Connie Leung, and Temenos Business Solution Director Frankie Wai discussed what the bank of 2030 could look like and how it would differ for customers.
But one of the takeaways went well beyond banking: AI could change the kinds of jobs available while giving individuals greater power to start their own businesses.
Leung drew an important distinction between eliminating a job and automating parts of it.
“AI can replace the task, not necessarily replace the person,” – Anxin Leung, Microsoft’s Senior Director and Financial Services Business Lead for Asia
Ngo agreed that roles would be rewritten as more routine functions become automated.
“I don’t think jobs can go. I think they will be reimagined, and they will be rewritten,” he said. “Some of the things that we think are jobs are going to end up as skills that we need to have.”
During the discussion, Fong said there have been approximately 72,000 job losses globally since 2025 that companies have attributed to AI, excluding a recent round of layoffs at Visa (NASDAQ: V).
Ngo acknowledged that workforce numbers would change. Data-encoding roles appear particularly vulnerable, while entry-level jobs could become harder to secure as employers look for people capable of coordinating work with AI.
However, positions requiring trust and face-to-face interaction could become more important. Ngo cited field credit validators, investigators, and relationship managers as examples. In wealth management, he said he would not entrust a large sum of money to a chatbot alone.
The challenge for businesses will therefore be to automate the work machines perform better while strengthening roles that depend on human judgment and relationships.
From employee to one-person company
The same technology that is disrupting traditional employment is also lowering barriers to entrepreneurship.
With AI tools, one person can potentially perform research, marketing, customer service, bookkeeping, and administrative tasks that previously required an entire team. Fong described the rise of “one-person corporations” and asked whether banks need new ways of assessing this emerging class of entrepreneurs.
The question is relevant to the Philippines. Ngo noted that the country still has a young population, while the Philippine Statistics Authority data show a median age of 27.7 and 74.95 million Filipinos of working age, creating a crucial window for earning, investing, and building wealth.
Ngo argued that the Philippines needs to encourage more people to enter business and that banks should use AI and better data to make small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) lending possible at scale.
“You really have to have access to capital in order to make a difference,” he said. “SME banking is critical. We need to encourage more people to move into entrepreneurship because the returns on capital are so much higher from a societal perspective.”
But today’s credit models are largely designed around salaried employees or established companies. An AI-enabled solo founder may have neither a conventional pay slip nor years of business records.
Banks may need to consider verified invoices, transaction histories, and real-time cash flow when evaluating borrowers. Open finance, portable digital identities, and auditable credit records could help individuals prove their financial reliability without relying solely on traditional collateral.
For Web3 builders, this may be the more meaningful opportunity: not another speculative token, but infrastructure that supports low-cost cross-border payments, verifiable business records, and transparent credit histories.
Leong also predicted that traditional card and correspondent banking networks would increasingly coexist with instant-payment systems, interoperable cross-border networks, and stablecoin-based payment rails.
Regardless of the technology, trust remains essential.
“Regardless of how sophisticated the technology becomes, I think trust will remain quite fundamental for banking customers,” Leong said.
The central question is no longer whether AI will make banks faster. It is whether the technology will help more Filipinos create wealth or merely make fewer workers necessary.
If AI produces a new generation of freelancers, solo founders, and one-person companies, banks must decide whether to treat them as risky outsiders or as the next engine of the Philippine economy. For workers considering what comes after the traditional nine-to-five job, that decision may matter just as much as the technology itself.
How is AI changing jobs?
AI is automating routine tasks, but it can also change jobs rather than eliminate them.
What is an AI-enabled entrepreneur?
It is a business owner who uses AI to handle tasks such as research, marketing, customer service, bookkeeping, and administration.
Can AI help Filipinos start businesses?
Yes. AI can eliminate the need for large teams by enabling a single person to manage multiple business functions.
How can banks use AI for SME lending?
AI can analyze financial data, including transactions and cash flow, to help banks assess borrowers who do not fit traditional lending models.
Will AI eliminate jobs?
Some routine jobs may decline, while other roles could be redesigned.
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