Government Prepares AI Presidential Decree, What Will Be Regulated?

Deputy Minister of Communication and Trade Nezar Patria (photo: Dinda Buana/VOI)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian government is drafting a Presidential Regulation (Perpres) on artificial intelligence (AI) which will be the initial legal umbrella to regulate the use and development of AI in various sectors.

Deputy Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs, Nezar Patria, explained that one of the main focuses of this regulation is the regulation of ethics and restrictions on the use of AI in strategic sectors such as education, health, agriculture, and transportation.

"We are reviewing our readiness to adopt this AI technology and various sectors. So we check in education, health, transportation, agriculture, and also in a number of other sectors," said Nezar when met at the Komdigi office on Monday, July 21.

Nezar explained that this Presidential Regulation will detail good practice guidelines and clear limits or do's and don't'ts, especially in sectors directly affected by AI technology adoption.

"Well, we have to anticipate some that are quite crucial and critical of AI development. Especially how to regulate its adoption in the sectors. For example in the education sector, what do and don't know there, what should be considered," he explained.

Not only regulating ethics, this Presidential Regulation will also include a sandboxing mechanism, namely the AI technology testing and validation process before being widely implemented in certain sectors.

The preparation of this regulation is carried out in conjunction with the preparation of the AI national roadmap, through a bottom-up approach that combines input from various stakeholders such as industry, the technology community, academics, and research institutions.

He also emphasized that this regulation would later complement various existing regulations, such as the Copyright Law, the Personal Data Protection Law (PDP), as well as a number of technical regulations regarding digital platform organizers and DIRECTions related to the ethics of using AI that had been previously published.