MANILA, Philippines — Smart Communications Inc. has introduced AI.Smart, a localized digital workspace aimed at making premium artificial intelligence tools accessible and affordable for the Philippine prepaid market.
The platform was developed alongside enterprise technology provider Amihan Global Strategies Inc. to offer advanced AI capabilities—which typically carry monthly subscription fees exceeding ₱1,000—starting at ₱49.
Smart First Vice President Lloyd Manaloto noted that the service is designed to bridge the digital divide for consumers who find standard AI subscriptions cost-prohibitive.
“At ₱49 for a week, a student can get help with exam preparation or a research paper, a freelancer can turn client notes into a polished proposal, and a family can plan a trip, a budget, or a celebration,” Manaloto said in a statement on Thursday, September 24.
Built on a dedicated landing zone powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and managed through Amazon Bedrock, AI.Smart routes prompts to suitable underlying AI models, such as Claude, Gemini, and ChatGPT. The interface allows users to process files, summarize documents, construct spreadsheets, produce images, and analyze data using English, Filipino, or Taglish.
Smart assured subscribers that personal data remains completely private within their workspaces and is not retained by third-party model developers or used for training algorithms.
“Millions of Filipinos already run their lives, their studies, and their online shopping and freelancing on a Smart connection. AI.Smart puts a real AI assistant right beside it, one that understands Filipino, respects your privacy, and can be paid for through your existing prepaid or postpaid account,” Manaloto said.
Through developer partner Avtica.ai, the platform plans to pilot the workspace in the Philippines before rolling it out to other emerging regions across Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa, and South Asia.
“This is how AI reaches everyone: not by waiting for prices to fall, but by building locally, pricing locally, and charging to the account people already have. The Philippines is first. The model travels,” said Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Winston Damarillo.