The Insurance Commission of the Philippines is the latest government agency to join the High-Readiness Consumer Protection consortium deploying the integrated AI complaints management system mandated by the country’s Internet Transactions Act. In parallel to benefiting from the project’s funding from the Gates Foundation, the Commission issued its procurement award to Proto to deploy the system sustainably beyond donor support.
This Insurance Commission's commitment underscores growing momentum for the Philippines’ digital public infrastructure. Notably, the Commission’s mandate to protect the insured public aligns directly with the objectives of the AI-powered system, ensuring that Filipino consumers — especially those with pressing claims disputes — can achieve mediated and binding decisions more quickly and transparently.
The government consortium behind this national deployment is organised under a global initiative led by Proto, a Canadian artificial intelligence company, and funded by the Gates Foundation. The Foundation’s partnership with Proto is focused on scaling inclusive, multilingual AI-powered grievance redress platforms for regulators in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The Philippines is the first beneficiary of this initiative, with national deployments underway in Namibia, Rwanda, and additional African countries.
This procurement by the Insurance Commission follows the active role played by its sister-agencies, such as the central bank and food and drug administration, during the project's diagnostic and design phases conducted by the University of Cambridge SupTech Lab.
Gates Foundation Senior Program Officer Anna Wallace said: “The Foundation is investing in consumer protection AI tools with the goal of building trust in digital services for the lowest-income communities. Through these projects, we hope to demonstrate the value of an automated grievance redress system for citizens, regulators, and governments — and catalyse broader adoption across emerging markets.”
Delivering on the Internet Transactions Act
The High-Readiness Consumer Protection consortium is a direct implementation of Section 17 of the Internet Transactions Act (RA No. 11967), which mandates a unified complaints tracking and referral system that covers digital platforms, merchants, and overlapping government jurisdictions. The act calls for a streamlined, accessible framework that reduces regulatory fragmentation and delivers faster outcomes for consumers.
To achieve this, Proto and its implementation partner, the University of Cambridge SupTech Lab, conducted diagnostic and design phases from December 2024 to April 2025. These phases included workshops with 26 participating agencies, and culminated in a two-day design sprint at the University of the Philippines Bonifacio Global City campus. Outputs included shared taxonomies for complaints, standardised triage workflows, and a technical blueprint now being implemented on the Proto AICX Platform.
Notably, both the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) were already live on Proto’s platform through earlier direct deployments.
Under the consortium’s shared service model, these deployments can be integrated into the new interoperable framework, maintaining existing user flows while benefiting from intelligent referrals and shared analytics. After donor support, consortium members will be able to cost-split the license of the shared platform.
How the shared service model protects consumers
Starting in June 2025, consumer will be able to lodge text and voice complaints in local languages like Tagalog and Cebuano via AI assistants hosted on government agency websites and social media. Complaints will be categorised using Proto’s proprietary natural language processing engine, matched with the appropriate agency or agencies, and tracked through a unified referral system.
The system complies with the Citizen’s Charter “3-7-20” rule requiring complaints to be acknowledged within 3 days, addressed within 7, and resolved within 20. Behind the scenes, agencies will gain access to real-time dashboards displaying resolution timelines, sectoral complaint trends, and sentiment analysis. The technology also includes:
- AI assistant switching to enables seamless handoff of chats between agencies, without requiring citizens to restart their complaints
- Voice AI for Filipino languages supported by a parallel ScaleAI grant, Canada’s national AI innovation program
- Hybrid cloud and on-premise architecture balancing flexibility and evolving data privacy and sovereignty requirements
- Automated escalation protocols for unresolved or multi-jurisdictional complaints
Proto CEO Curtis Matlock said: “The Philippines is showing global leadership in building digital public infrastructure that works across government with maximum efficiency. The Proto team is honoured to work with our colleagues at the high-readiness agencies, including the Insurance Commission. Together, we’re executing upon the future of equitable and sustainable AI deployments for government.”
The Insurance Commission will unleash this technology to overcome the challenges of its manual complaints process. Currently, eight staff members have to process 300-400 complaints per day, with the approximate 20 days response time falling outside the Citizen's Charter rule. On top of this load, non-complaint inquiries and cases meant for other agencies consume precious human resources that could be dedicated to mediations and investigations.
Proven impact and global potential
Proto’s work since 2019 with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the country’s central bank, has already demonstrated the system’s performance at scale. The AI-powered assistant processes over 276,000 support sessions annually, facilitates 14.4 million messages, and resolved 89% of queries without human intervention. These outcomes enabled the BSP to absorb a dramatic surge in complaints during the COVID pandemic without expanding operational overhead.
Cambridge SupTech Lab Co-Head Matt Grasser said: “Delivering meaningful impact in emerging markets takes more than innovative ideas and policies — it requires adaptable infrastructure and scalable tools. Through its long-standing partnership with the Lab, powered by Digital Transformation Solutions’ digital innovation platform, Proto is making real progress in accelerating the development of key public sector technologies. We’re proud to continue supporting this work, which is expanding access to inclusive, citizen-focused supervisory technology in the regions that need it most.”
As the Philippines enters national deployment, the shared service model stands as a globally-relevant example of how governments can use AI to unify service delivery, reduce regulatory friction, and build trust with citizens in underserved communities. More than an AI upgrade — this deployment is a reimagining of how resilient consumer protection can work in an era of disruption and digital economies.
About the Insurance Commission
The Insurance Commission of the Philippines is the primary government agency mandated to regulate and supervise the insurance, pre-need, and health maintenance organization (HMO) industries. Under the Department of Finance, the Commission ensures the financial soundness of these institutions and protects the interests of policyholders, planholders, and the insuring public. With a strong consumer protection mandate, the Insurance Commission plays a vital role in resolving complaints, enforcing market conduct standards, and fostering trust and stability within the financial sector.
About Cambridge SupTech Lab
The Cambridge SupTech Lab is a global initiative of the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School. The Lab accelerates the digital transformation of financial supervision by partnering with regulators to co-design and deploy supervisory technology (SupTech) solutions. Through research, capacity building, and technical assistance, the Lab supports financial authorities in developing scalable, data-driven tools that enhance oversight, inclusion, and accountability in financial systems.
