Indonesia's AI Roadmap: Building an Inclusive, Responsible Ecosystem
Deputy Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs Nezar Patria outlined the national AI roadmap now in preparation. The plan focuses on a collaborative research and innovation ecosystem, a stronger investment climate, and practical use cases tied to national priority programs.
What the roadmap delivers
- Create a shared research and AI innovation ecosystem across government, academia, and industry.
- Improve the investment climate to attract capital, talent, and partnerships.
- Develop concrete use cases linked to priority programs so AI produces measurable public benefit.
Where AI helps
AI can address challenges in food security, education, health, and the creative economy. Agencies can use it for forecasting, service delivery, and better resource allocation.
Four strategic focuses
- Inclusive participation: Engage all stakeholders in policy design, standards, and pilots.
- Risk mitigation: Reduce harms such as misinformation and unintended bias through clear governance, audits, and red-teaming. See the OECD AI Principles as a policy reference point.
- Business process innovation: Modernize workflows so agencies can adopt AI responsibly and at scale.
- R&D and capacity: Expand research, data infrastructure, and talent development to sustain progress.
Government priority sectors
- Health
- Digital talent education
- Bureaucratic reform
- Smart city development
- Food security
Practical steps for agencies now
- Map 2-3 high-impact use cases per sector with clear baselines, KPIs, and data sources.
- Establish data governance: classification, access controls, privacy impact assessments, and quality standards.
- Set procurement rules for AI systems that require transparency, risk assessments, and human oversight.
- Run time-boxed pilots; publish results and lessons learned to a shared repository.
- Form cross-agency working groups with academia and industry to co-develop standards and testbeds.
- Build skills: upskill policy, IT, and program teams on AI fundamentals, prompt design, and evaluation. For structured paths, see AI courses by job role.
- Plan communications and citizen feedback loops to counter misinformation and improve services.
Guiding document for fair digital transformation
The government is preparing the AI roadmap as a guide for an inclusive and responsible ecosystem. The goal is to support fair digital transformation and improve public welfare.
Collaboration and vision
The roadmap points to an "AI Independent Indonesia." This is a shared job for government, academia, industry, and civil society. Coordinated action now will turn policy into outcomes citizens can see.
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