Technology: The future is here

I was in San Francisco for a couple of days where I was invited to deliver remarks and take part in a forum for the Fleet Week Senior Leaders Seminar onboard the USS Tripoli, an America-class amphibious assault ship. With us were US Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro as well as representatives of the Pacific Partnership (an annual deployment of forces from the US Navy's Pacific Fleet) and the Koa Moana 24 mission from the US Marine Corps' I Marine Expeditionary Force. Participants to the by invitation-only program include leaders from government, the military, and the private sector.

- AMBASSADOR B. ROMUALDEZ

The San Francisco Fleet Week is the biggest civic event of the West Coast, attracting over 1.2 million visitors to the Bay Area annually. The week-long celebration was started in 1981 by the late Senator Dianne Feinstein - a good friend of the Philippines - when she was mayor of San Francisco, and the event has since become the most significant of its kind in the US.

San Francisco is known as the innovation hub of the world and is home to Silicon Valley where some of the biggest tech and software companies are located such as Google, Meta and Apple. The city continues to be the top choice of startups, with Hayes Valley getting nicknamed "Cerebral Valley" because of the growing community of artificial intelligence techies and founders in the area.

I am simply amazed to see driverless taxis on the streets of San Francisco - proof of the AI boom that's happening - with many women saying they prefer "robotaxis" because they feel safer. We will need this type of transportation in the Philippines to get rid of reckless and lawless drivers.