Once known as the BPO capital of the world, the Philippines is undergoing another shift—this time toward becoming a global hub for applied AI. And according to industry insiders, it’s not just about automation; it’s about reinvention.
In a roundtable chat with David Foote, founder of Zennya Health, and Carlo Almendral of AI First, we dove deep into how artificial intelligence is already reshaping the way Filipinos work, learn, and build the future.
I met David about two decades ago, during a time when tech was awakward. It was the era of Web 1.5 where the Internet was still attempting to go mobile, WiFi was still new, and Google had only recently lauched GMail. I was attracted to some of his work in what we now know as the “metaverse” of having an alter-ego online and a life beyond the physical. Today, there’s no distinction — or barely any distinction. It is such that I was curious to reconnect with him, and Carlo, to talk about the future-present.
The myth of the AI job killer
“A journalist who knows how to use AI will always beat one who doesn’t,” I said during our talk. Both David and Carlo agreed. The real threat isn’t AI replacing jobs—it’s people not adapting fast enough. “AI won’t kill work,” David said. “Mediocrity will.”
Zennya, which started as a wellness-on-demand app, has now evolved into a full-stack health tech platform. From powering at-home blood testing to launching smart wearables and branded supplements, David is closing the loop on personal healthcare powered by AI. “Our long-term vision was never just massage delivery—it was health optimization. Now, we’re building it with AI at the center.”
I was begining to understand Zennya’s slow creep into everyone’s health ecosystem. I asked him if there was a pivot from being an “Uber for home massages” to personal healthcare. David clarifies that getting into people’s homes was the first step, and the easiest way was through being able to easily book spa appointments at home. During the pandemic they started offering blood work, covid testing, and vaccines. Today, it has just become more efficient with AI empowering his team.
AI as team multiplier
For Carlo, founder of AI First, the change is more grassroots. He’s building engineering bootcamps, launching a new AI product every two weeks, and giving young developers equity instead of just salaries. “We see our team members as fellows and co-founders,” he said. “They build. We distribute.”
From plug-and-play online stores to landing pages built in seconds, Carlo’s goal is to give aspiring founders tools that lower the barrier of entry. “Six months ago, you’d need a dev team and weeks of work. Today, a marketer can build and deploy a prototype by lunchtime.”
Carlo says that AI enables you to do rapid prototyping faster, building MVP’s faster, and as a result, fail (or succeed) faster. It’s like a washing machine that gets all your load done in 5 minutes versus one hour. More time to iterate and compensate.
I shared how this new insight into building products is a shift from having to solicid seed funding, dealing with the anxiety of raising money even before your project gets off the ground. With AI, you can build while you raise.
Culture vs. cost
Despite all this innovation, both speakers noted that local work culture still clings to old beliefs—namely, that hiring more people is cheaper than paying for new tech.
“That mindset is changing,” David said, “but slowly.” He pointed out that $200/month for an AI assistant like Claude Max is still considered “expensive,” even though it could make every employee more productive. “The irony is, that’s less than minimum wage.”
Learning the AI way
The biggest challenge? Unlearning how we’ve traditionally approached education. Universities can’t keep up, and young professionals often rely on YouTube to learn emerging tools. Carlo recommends starting with the basics: “Learn to talk to ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. Then, get involved in global communities on X or Reddit. Don’t wait for a school syllabus to catch up.”
David echoed this: “Context is everything. The more personal info and project history you give your AI tools, the better they can assist you.” He even deletes and rebuilds conversations to improve prompt responses—something Carlo does too, training GPT with specific identity profiles for different life use cases.
A Personalized Future
So where is this all going? Carlo says the next evolution is personal portability: “You should be able to carry your AI-trained identity from one model to another—your health persona, your marketing persona, your writer persona.” Think of it like a digital passport for your goals and habits.
With platforms like Zennya already integrating health data, AI monitoring, and supplements into one smart system, and AI First pushing new tools every month, it’s clear: the future of work in the Philippines isn’t just about being replaced or disrupted—it’s about being redesigned.
And for those who embrace it early, there’s one more job title up for grabs: pioneer.
