Menkomdigi: Digigal Infrastructure And Talenta Become The Main Foundation For The Future Of AI In Indonesia

Menkomdigi Meutya Hafid (photo: dock. Komdigi)

JAKARTA - The Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs (Menkomdigi), Meutya Hafid, stated that to achieve AI sovereignty, there is a main foundation that must be strengthened, namely digital infrastructure and development of superior local talents.

According to Meutya, to become the leader of AI, Indonesia must have a qualified data center to be able to meet AI's needs for computing power and high processing capacity.

"AI will require enormous processing and capacity. If it doesn't exist here, it will be difficult for us to make it happen," said Meutya in an official broadcast on Tuesday, April 15.

Therefore, Indonesia cannot directly become the leader of global AI instantly. We step by step towards AI sovereignty: first, the infrastructure was first fixed, then digital talent was prepared," he explained.

Currently, one of the key strategies of the Ministry of Communication and Industry is to print nine million digital talents by 2030. Training programs are organized with various global partners, including Microsoft and Google.

However, Meutya admits that there are not many big challenges, namely that there are not many enthusiasts, even though this training is free of charge. For this reason, Komdigi is now collaborating with universities to attract participants who seriously want to become AI talents.

Not to forget, Meutya also highlighted the potential of vocational students who were considered to understand and develop AI projects very quickly.

"The graduation rate is not high, which is normal. But at the Vocational High School level, the AI works are very creative," said Meutya further.

As part of an ethical approach, Indonesia has issued an AI Ethics Circular making him one of the first countries in Asia to have official guidance regarding the development and use of AI responsibly.

Komdigi is currently also designing an AI roadmap to create AI governance in Indonesia. This roadmap is targeted to be completed in the next few months.