Airlangga Confident Indonesia Can Catch Up to China in AI and Robotics

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto expressed confidence that Indonesia can narrow the gap with China in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. He acknowledged China's significant advancements, stating that Indonesia must "catch up" to their progress.

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China is already extraordinary in the application of AI and robotics, so Indonesia must 'catch up' to what they are doing.

Hartarto made these remarks while visiting various booths at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) 2026 in Shanghai, held from July 17-20. WAIC, established in 2018, is a major global gathering focused on AI, intelligent computing, and embodied intelligence. The 2026 edition features 1,400 speakers, including Nobel and Turing Award laureates, and showcases over 3,000 products and technologies from 1,100 companies.

During his visit, Hartarto observed the impressive development and flexibility of China's robotics industry, particularly its capacity to perform a wide range of tasks. He specifically visited booths from Unitree Robotics and Deep Robotics, companies specializing in advanced legged and humanoid robots for both consumer and industrial applications. Unitree Robotics, known for its high-performance robots, demonstrated complex autonomous kung fu movements.

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Their robotics industry is truly developing and has extraordinary flexibility, especially for many jobs that can be done using robots.

Hartarto intends to report his observations from the exhibition, as well as his meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other ministers, to President Prabowo Subianto. He stressed the importance for Indonesia not to fall behind in the development of AI, robotics, and renewable energy for the nation's future.

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Of course, we will report so that in the future we cannot be left behind in the development of AI, especially also the development of robotics and in the renewable energy sector.