Anouncement
Anouncement
MANILA — The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has officially established a nationwide policy framework to regulate the responsible and human-centered use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) across Philippine higher education institutions (HEIs).
Issued under CHED Memorandum Order (CMO) No. 21, series of 2026, the directive aligns with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s push to bolster digital competencies and cultivate ethical technological literacy amid rapid global developments in AI.
Rather than implementing a rigid, one-size-fits-all restriction, the new framework grants colleges and universities the flexibility to adopt AI tools tailored to their unique academic and institutional contexts—with a firm condition: technology must support, not supplant, human intellect.
“Human judgment, creativity, academic freedom, and ethical responsibility must remain central. AI must never substitute for intellectual rigor or diminish the role of faculty in guiding learning,” stated Principle 1 of the memorandum.
To reinforce critical inquiry and ethical adoption in classrooms, CHED emphasized that faculty must outline clear boundaries in their syllabi detailing where AI assistance is allowed, where it is restricted, and how its use must be disclosed.
“Students must learn how to think before they learn how to prompt.”
— Commission on Higher Education (CHED)
The memorandum introduces comprehensive safeguards aimed at preserving academic fairness, privacy, and systemic integrity:
| Policy Area | Mandatory Requirement |
| Academic Outcomes | AI tools are strictly prohibited from autonomously determining student grades, admissions, scholarship allocations, academic progression, or faculty evaluations without meaningful human review. |
| Data Privacy & Security | Institutions must enforce strict standards on vendor compliance, cybersecurity, and data management to prevent student and faculty data exposure on unsecured public platforms. |
| Impact Assessments | HEIs must conduct risk assessments—ranging from minimal to high-impact levels—before deploying institutional AI solutions. |
| Curricular Integration | Programs are urged to integrate interdisciplinary AI competencies to prepare graduates for an AI-driven domestic and international workforce. |
| Faculty Development | HEIs must provide structured training programs for educators and administrators regarding ethical AI tools and data governance. |
Beyond setting guardrails against academic dishonesty and data exploitation, CMO No. 21 tasks universities with advancing AI research aligned with national development goals.
CHED stressed that closer collaboration among academia, industry partners, and government agencies is vital to equip future graduates with both the technical capabilities and the ethical framework demanded by modern industries.
