GCash champions ethical use of AI against enhanced cyberfraud

Besides having many positive applications today, artificial intelligence (AI) technology is now also being used in malicious ways, resulting in stronger and more deceptive financial cyberfraud. Providers of digital services owe it to their users to ensure that their money and assets are secure. That means also using AI to shore up defenses and provide safe financial inclusion.

That was the key takeaway of iGnite: The GCash Innovation Summit 2026, held last July 24 at the SMX Aura Convention Center.

Taking aim at the challenge of beating AI-powered fraud and keeping people safe, tech industry experts and thought leaders shared how digital service providers, government agencies, and tech companies can band together and use the latest cybersecurity innovations as “Vanguards of Trust.”

Combating AI with AI

GCash Chief Information Security Officer Miguel Geronilla underscored the need to fight AI-enhanced cyber threats with solutions equally reinforced by AI technology.

“Today, a face can be generated, a voice can be cloned, a message can be written in your style, an account can look completely legitimate—and all of this can be done quickly, cheaply, and at scale. That is how AI changed the security landscape,” said Geronilla in his keynote speech.

Geronilla stresses that the solution would not only be to use AI to combat AI, but also for multiple organizations, agencies, companies, and even users and consumers themselves to work together and implement proactive measures across every tier. This collaboration is necessary in order to match the speed and efficiency of the new threats.

The collaboration among stakeholders for a more secure ecosystem should be founded on four pillars.

First are the platforms that build AI-driven protective architecture, which is the actual cybersecurity technology that defends against attacks.

Second are the regulators and government bodies that create responsive frameworks and enforcement, ensuring that there are concrete and effective policies and plans in place.

Then there is the law enforcement that implements rapid and effective cross-agency action against threats that manage to strike.

Lastly, the final pillar would be the users themselves, who should proactively practice digital hygiene and maintain awareness, shutting down fraudsters and bad actors before they even hit.

“Security today is no longer about protecting our own applications or infrastructure. We are here to protect an ecosystem. Technology alone will not solve this, nor will one platform, one regulator, or one bank. A threat that moves across institutions requires that we all move together,” said Geronilla.

The real mark of financial inclusion

For GCash, real financial inclusion isn’t just giving Filipinos a better way to manage their finances digitally–it also means keeping their money and assets safe.

Millions of Filipinos rely on GCash’s smooth and secure operations to go about their day and handle their finances, which is why the consumers’ trust in the service has to be maintained and protected. So long as all the stakeholders work together to effectively defend against and respond to threats, users of GCash can rest assured that their assets will remain intact.

“Inclusion is not only about access; it is also about making the access safe enough to trust,” said Geronilla. “Our job is not simply to bring more people into the digital economy—it is to make sure that they stay there with confidence.”

ADVT.

This article is brought to you by GCash.