BIR, Ayala develop AI assistant ‘Terry’ to speed up tax research

Abi Sarabia M., Philippine Canadian Inquirer
September 03, 2026

MANILA — The Bureau of Internal Revenue is developing an artificial intelligence-powered assistant called “Terry” to help its personnel search, cross-reference and analyze tax rules and official issuances more efficiently.

The BIR is working with Ayala Corporation on Terry the Tax AI Assistant, which will be developed at no cost to the government under a six-month collaboration.

BIR Commissioner Charlito Martin Mendoza and Ayala Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Group Head Karl Kendrick Chua signed the agreement on Aug. 25.

Terry is being designed to help BIR employees retrieve tax regulations, rulings, issuances and related materials through a structured and searchable knowledge base.

The system will also provide citation-based, source-grounded responses using official BIR references, allowing personnel to verify the basis of the information it provides.

Mendoza said the goal is to reduce the time employees spend manually searching and cross-referencing documents so they can focus more on interpreting tax rules, resolving difficult cases and implementing reforms.

He stressed, however, that the AI will only support the decision-making process.

“The technology can help assemble the basis for a decision. But the judgment—and the responsibility for acting on it—remains solely ours,” Mendoza said.

BIR personnel will also take part in testing, validating and refining Terry, as well as knowledge-transfer activities intended to help the bureau continue developing the system based on its future needs.