Quezon City, Philippines – The Department of Science and Technology (DOST), through the Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI), unveiled its latest Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered innovations and digital infrastructure projects during a press conference hosted by the Philippine Information Agency on 16 May 2025.  The event highlighted the country's push to build an inclusive and future-ready AI ecosystem.

DOST-ASTI’s AI initiatives now directly support over 300 state universities and colleges, SMEs, research teams, and local government units across the country, providing them with access to advanced AI tools, training, and infrastructure. These beneficiaries include agricultural cooperatives, disaster risk management offices, and academic institutions, all leveraging DOST-ASTI developed platforms, infrastructures, and tools.

To date, DOST has invested more than 200 million pesos in projects including: space technology, robotics, disaster response, and emerging technologies. This funding has enabled the launch and scaling of flagship programs such as the Remote Sensing and Data Science (DATOS) Help Desk, Autonomous Societally Inspired Mission Oriented Vehicles (ASIMOV), and the Philippine Sky Artificial Intelligence (SkAI-Pinas) program, among others.

DOST-ASTI is pioneering several AI breakthroughs that are the first of their kind in the country, such as the rapid disaster response mapping using AI. The DATOS Help Desk is the Philippines’ first AI-powered system for generating and distributing DRRM maps (e.g., flood extent, rain-induced landslides, forest mapping, etc.). These maps are created and shared with regional offices and affected local government units within 10 to 20 minutes — significantly accelerating emergency response and planning across the country.

DOST-ASTI also boasts of AI-Powered Crop Disease Detection. The ASIMOV Program is the first in the country to deploy AI-driven robots for early detection of banana plant diseases, helping farmers prevent crop losses and improve food security. This innovation uses computer vision and autonomous navigation to identify plant illnesses at their earliest stages, directly benefiting Mindanao’s banana plantations and potentially other crops in the future.

With platforms like the ASTI-Automated Labeling Machine (ASTI-ALaM) and the Democratized Intelligent Model Exchange Repository (DIMER), DOST-ASTI is making pre-trained AI models and data annotation tools accessible to innovators nationwide, lowering barriers to AI adoption for startups and researchers.

DOST’s Advancing Computing, Analytics, Big Data, and Artificial Intelligence in the Philippines (ACABAI-PH) project serves as another science and technology breakthrough—empowering Filipino researchers, businesses, and communities to harness AI for sustainable development. By supporting platforms such as COARE, PREGINET, DIMER, and iTANONG, ACABAI-PH is building an inclusive, future-ready AI ecosystem aligned with national priorities.

DOST Secretary Renato U. Solidum Jr., in his keynote address at the 2025 National Innovation Day, emphasized that innovation must be accessible, ethical, and responsive to real societal needs. He introduced the proposed National AI Strategy for the Philippines (NAIS Ph), a unified national framework to build a collaborative AI ecosystem that empowers communities and enables broad AI adoption across society.

“By building an ethical, inclusive, and responsive innovation ecosystem, we can ensure that emerging technologies become powerful tools for creating the just, sustainable, and prosperous Philippines we all envision,” he added.