(UPDATE) TECHNOLOGY giant International Business Machines (IBM) has committed to train 2 million individuals in artificial intelligence (AI), mostly from under-represented communities through collaborations with the government and other universities.

In a recent interview with The Manila Times, IBM Philippines President and country general manager Aileen Judan-Jiao said they intend to help under-represented communities as many jobs are going to be replaced by AI.

The training will be done through IBM’s SkillsBuild platform, a free education program that aims to help adult learners, high school and university students, and faculty to develop new skills and access career opportunities.

SkillsBuild is an online platform that can be accessed anywhere through any device and offers 1,000 courses in 20 languages on AI, cybersecurity, data analysis, cloud computing and many other technical disciplines.

“We need to show that it can be done and the platform should be inclusive and accessible and very bite-sized,” Jiao said, stressing the importance of preparing for jobs that are related to artificial intelligence, as the World Economic Forum said that around 85 million jobs could be replaced by AI.

“All of us need to think of the cases in every environment, whether it is in the academe, but we need to embed early,” Jiao said.

The program began with a training of teachers in the City College of San Fernando.

The agency is exploring partnerships with the Department of Education, the Commission on Higher Education, and the Department of Labor and Employment to upskill students and workers.