cycles the technology was diffused over a prolonged period, so the labour force had time to adjust. but this time adoption may happen much faster, creating more disruption and a loss of livelihoods that will be difficult to replace. so far, we don ’ t have much evidence that labour is being displaced by ai at rates that would lead to declines in total employment. if anything, digitalization — and the commercialization of ai — have likely been net job creators in canada. employment in computer systems design and related services, which is a proxy for digitalization, has risen 48 % since the end of 2019, compared with a 6 % increase in employment for the rest of the economy. this recent growth builds on an existing trend — while overall employment is up 17 % over the past decade, employment in the digitalization - related segment has more than doubled. but we know there are probably more profound effects to come. as ai becomes more established in the economy and its impacts more transformative, it could end up destroying more jobs than it creates. and the people who lose their work to automation may struggle to find new opportunities. this is a concern for us all. understanding and shaping the labour market impacts will be increasingly important as ai continues to advance and diffuse through our economies. price - setting behaviour in addition to productivity and the labour market, ai may also affect how businesses set prices. there is already evidence that digitally intensive firms change prices more frequently than less digitally intensive firms. 8 for us central bankers, this means the phillips curve might be steeper than previously thought. 9 when combined with a more shock - prone world, this suggests inflation could be more volatile than it was in the 25 years before the pandemic. ai could also affect the level of competition in the economy, although its impact is ambiguous. initially, ai - intensive start - ups could seize market share by undercutting incumbents. this would increase competition and lower prices. however, ai could also result in markets dominated by a handful of companies with monopoly power. in this scenario, ai would ultimately lead to less competition and higher prices. the monopoly effect is easy to imagine, with several superstar firms already dominating their sectors. fortunately, we have competition authorities to deal with undue market power. but authorities will need to keep pace. all this means central banks need to be closely attuned to how ai is affecting inflation, both indirectly through overall demand and supply and directly through price - setting behaviour. ai and central banks

amando m tetangco, jr : the constellation of monetary challenges and responses speech by mr amando m tetangco, jr, governor of the central bank of the philippines ( bangko sentral ng pilipinas ), at the philippine economic briefing, makati city, 12 september 2007. * i. * * the current economic constellation both the domestic and international business communities affirm that the philippines is now experiencing the most stable macroeconomic environment in a decade. the inflation rate has been low and stable, with the outlook for inflation benign. this has allowed monetary authorities to maintain interest rates at low and stable levels also. our balance of payments remains in surplus, bolstered by the current account, which is also in surplus, in fact for four ( 4 ) consecutive years now. we have built up our international reserves to a record - high of $ 30. 3 billion, adequate to more than cover our short - term liquidity requirements. our strong external position enabled the bsp and the ng to prepay foreign debts amounting to us $ 2. 1 billion in 2006 and another $ 0. 9 billion in the first half of 2007. these have markedly improved our external debt ratios. included in these payments was the prepayment in full of the country ’ s outstanding obligations to the imf in december 2006, a milestone in the philippines ’ relationship with the imf since it effectively ended the country ’ s use of imf resources after nearly four and a half decades. our banking system is growing at double digit rates in both asset size and deposit base, improving in profitability and continues to be capitalized well - above international standards. investor attention and responses to the current constellation of economic data have been significantly positive as evidenced by the following developments, particularly during the first half of the year : • the stock market reached seven - year highs • the peso appreciated on account of strong export earnings and sustained overseas remittances. • our sovereign credit spreads compressed. • yields on domestic securities fell to record lows. the questions, however, that may be in your minds now are : can these gains be sustained? will the economic momentum be able to weather the recent domestic and global market adjustments and volatilities? my quick answer is yes. our macroeconomic fundamentals are sound. because our underlying fundamentals are the result of the fiscal, macroeconomic, banking and financial sector reforms that have been undertaken vigorously and continue to be pursued, i believe we