Filipino tech pioneer Joey Gurango, a former Apple and Microsoft employee and software startup founder, said the Philippines could reach a critical point in artificial intelligence adoption within the next two to four years, warning the country might be "left behind again" as it has been in other technology waves. Gurango said AI represents a more profound shift than earlier transitions involving mainframes, client-server computing, the Internet, the Web, and mobile technologies. He noted that AI has been adopted by consumers and enterprises at roughly the same time, unlike older technologies that gained traction first among businesses and governments. Widespread use among employees and customers has pressured companies to adopt the technology, with Gurango citing "a little bit of FOMO" among businesses. He identified AI software's ability to change based on data and learning, rather than relying solely on humans for improvements, as the most revolutionary aspect, calling it "self-modifying" and saying "that's never happened before." Gurango rated AI's potential impact on a scale of 1 to 10 as "based a lot on 15." He distinguished current AI concerns from earlier automation fears, saying debate over AI increasingly centers on whether machines could take over functions associated more broadly with people, making it "very different from previous technologies."