The BPO Industry Employees Network (BIEN) condemned foreign companies in the Philippines’ IT-BPM sector for their expanding use of artificial intelligence (AI). According to the group, the companies’ touted advantages of AI use—including higher productivity and efficiency—actually result in heavier workloads and greater job insecurity for workers. The service’ rising revenues do not translate to wage hikes for the sector’s employees.

The workers particularly denounced the statement made by an Amazon Web Services Philippines official claiming that AI adoption improved the country’s revenue generation and operations.

BIEN Secretary General Renso Bajala said workers experience the opposite of the company’s boasts.

“If AI is supposed to make work easier, why are we carrying more tasks, tighter metrics, and faster outputs?” Bajala said. “Companies talk about efficiency gains, but on the ground, that ‘efficiency’ means fewer workers doing more.”

BIEN added that in many companies, workers themselves build AI systems through data labeling, response refinement, and automation support. But once these systems start running, companies begin terminating staff or placing them on “floating status,” where they are not given work and pay.

“Workers are being made to build the very systems that will later replace them,” Bajala said. “We have handled cases where after months of training on AI tools, teams are downsized or left without stable work.”

The group also refuted Amazon’s claim that workers automatically benefit from company profits brought by AI. According to Bajala, higher corporate revenues and faster operations have not led to increased wages, job security, or better working conditions.

BIEN stressed that contractualization, unpaid extra work, and arbitrary placement on “floating status” will worsen in the sector without clear labor protections.

“The problem is not technology itself, but how it is being used,” Bajala said. AI is currently being used to squeeze greater output while cutting labor costs, with workers absorbing all the risk.

The group demanded strong protection for workers against arbitrary floating status, for secure employment, and fair compensation for AI’s impact on their livelihoods.

“When workers are the ones creating the value, they should not be the first to be discarded,” Bajala concluded.