The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will not allow employers to let artificial intelligence or AI make the final decision on who gets hired in their companies, Labor Secretary Francis Tolentino said Thursday.
Tolentino said his department is already preparing to issue a labor advisory requiring that human beings retain authority over all hiring decisions even as AI tools spread across Philippine workplaces.
The President’s Labor chief made the statement in an interview on DZRH News program The Situation Report on September 10, responding to a listener question about DOLE’s position on the impact of artificial intelligence on Philippine labor.
Tolentino said AI is currently being viewed as a disruption in the workplace, but the correct framing is that it should function as a supplement to human workers rather than a replacement for them.
“Artificial Intelligence should not be considered as a replacement of the human worker. Right now, it is considered as a disruption, but it should supplement,” the Labor chief said.
Tolentino said the HR department of a company may be assisted by AI tools in screening, sorting, and processing applications, but the moment of decision must always remain with a human being.
“The hiring process itself, the decision who to hire, how, when, why, should be the human being herself or himself, ang HR manager. Hindi mo pwedeng ibigay sa AI ‘yun,” the Labor chief said.
Tolentino said the advisory will focus on agentive AI, the kind that takes action or makes decisions autonomously, and will establish the principle that AI must work for Filipino workers, not against them.
“So maglalabas kami ng labor advisory dito, more on the agentive AI. Tumulong si AI sa tao, hindi i-replace ni Artificial Intelligence ang tao,” Tolentino said.
He said labor advisories issued by DOLE carry compliance expectations and are generally followed by companies, citing the recent advisory on child content creators as an example of how advisories have effectively changed industry behavior.
