As AI Advances Rapidly, Indonesia Needs to Build Its Technology Capacity

The rapid rise of artificial intelligence is pushing Indonesia to confront a basic question: will it build the capacity to create and govern the technology, or remain mainly a user of products developed elsewhere?

That question featured prominently at the World Encounter Summit 2026 in Bali, which brought together government leaders, young people, academics, religious figures, technology companies and civil society representatives from five continents. The program began with the Bali Harmony Dialogue at the United In Diversity Bali Campus in the Kura Kura Bali Special Economic Zone on September 3, followed by the XI International Scholas Chairs Congress from September 4 to 6.

Participants examined AI’s effects on education, employment, the mental health of younger generations, democracy and social relationships. A central concern was the unequal pace of AI development between countries. Access to data, computing power, digital infrastructure and skilled talent varies widely, as does the ability to develop and regulate the technology.

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One way is through the development of AI supported by clean energy and STEM education.

Luhut B. Pandjaitan, chairman of Indonesia’s National Economic Council, said Indonesia needed to build technological capacity independently. “One way is through the development of AI supported by clean energy and STEM education,” he said in a statement received on September 5.

Communications and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid said the high level of AI use among Indonesia’s younger generation needed to be matched by stronger research, talent, infrastructure and policy. “Use alone does not automatically become national capacity,” she said. In her view, the situation gives Indonesia an opportunity to develop its own technology instead of becoming only a market for AI products from other countries.

Maria Paz Jurado, executive director of Scholas Occurrentes, said the discussion should look beyond what machines can do. Societies must also decide what kind of human beings they want to build alongside technological progress, she said. The equitable distribution of AI’s benefits involves not only technology, but also social, economic, moral and environmental justice.

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Use alone does not automatically become national capacity.