INTRODUCTION
With one of the largest digital economies on the continent, Indonesia is characterised as an emerging tech giant among its Southeast Asian peers, making it a strategic business hub for many tech investors (James Henderson, 2024). A recent innovation has been the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems into various sectors in order to increase efficiency and foster innovation.
Although there is no international definition for AI, the recent AI Act enacted by the European Union (EU) defines “AI system” in Article 3(1) as:
a machine-based system that is designed to operate with varying levels of autonomy and that may exhibit adaptiveness after deployment, and that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers, from the input it receives, how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations, or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments (AI Act, 2024).
Although not applicable to Indonesia, it serves as a reference point for understanding what an AI system is and how such a definition could be applied to the Indonesian context.
The implementation of AI systems in society is becoming increasingly necessary. However, it also poses significant risks, requiring strict guidelines and technical knowledge to ensure the virtuous use of this technology and mitigate its negative side effects, namely the violation of human rights (Global Campus of Human Rights, 2025). AI regulation is particularly important in a society like Indonesia’s. As a nation of over 270 million people encompassing more than 1,300 ethnic groups, Indonesia presents diverse challenges for AI integration, particularly in terms of having a skilled workforce, the readiness of computational infrastructure and data, and adapting AI innovation to address challenges related to minorities (AI Ethics Guidelines in Indonesia, 2020).
This article will examine the applicable AI regulations in Indonesia, as well as international and European frameworks that could serve as blueprints for further improvement, and the current use of AI in specific fields, including law enforcement, the job market, and Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools.
CURRENT LEGAL FRAMEWORK
The use of AI poses risks, including the introduction of bias and discrimination into the data, a lack of transparency regarding the use of algorithms, and privacy concerns (Intimedia, 2024). To address these challenges, the Indonesian government introduced, in 2020, a National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence (“Strategi Nasional Kecerdasan Artifisial”) to guide the country in developing AI between 2020 and 2045 (UNESCO, 2024). The government chose five priority areas: healthcare, bureaucratic reform, education and research, food security, mobility, and smart city. To improve these sectors, the government has four main points of focus: ethics and policy, talent development, infrastructure and data, and industrial research and innovation (Muhammad Firdaus, 2020).
There are international frameworks and guidelines that establish global standards for AI to ensure this technology is developed and used in ways that respect human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) AI Principles offer a widely accepted, non-binding framework that serves as a guide for its Member States in developing and using AI responsibly and ethically (OECD, 2019). Although Indonesia is not yet a member of the OECD, its National Strategy aligns closely with the OECD’s principles. However, an effective implementation of this alignment is crucial to overcome significant challenges, such as ensuring adequate resources, building technical capacity, and fostering public awareness about the potential negative implications of AI (Tuhu Nugraha, 2025).
The EU AI Act is the world’s first binding legal framework for AI, adopting a risk-based approach and imposing obligations on deployers and providers of high-risk systems, especially those used in sensitive areas (European Parliament, 2023). Although it does not bind Indonesia, the nation can still draw useful conclusions from it. For instance, it can aim to adopt a legally binding regulation for AI instead of simply relying on non-enforceable national guidelines (Media Diversity Institute, 2024). The EU’s approach also highlights the importance of establishing clear rules based on the risk level of an AI system and the risk assessment made by its provider (Oskar J. Gstrein, 2024).
AI USE IN LAW ENFORCEMENT
One sector where the use of technology and AI is growing is law enforcement. Indonesian authorities are increasingly using Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) as a tool to enhance public safety and modernise crime prevention strategies. It works by capturing and analysing facial features, then matching them against existing criminal databases to identify suspects and track individuals in real time. However, the rapid deployment of this technology has raised ethical and legal concerns, such as the lack of adequate data protection laws and the risk of algorithmic bias and discrimination (Dendy K. Pramudito, 2025).
AI bias is evident, particularly when it comes to ethnic minorities. A study by Buolamwini and Gebru in 2018 found that commercial facial recognition algorithms have significantly higher error rates for darker-skinned individuals, which can result in wrongful arrests and discrimination. This risk is prevalent in Southeast Asia, where the diverse skin tones of many local populations are often poorly represented in training datasets. This under-representation increases the risk of misidentification, compromising individual liberties and public trust (Media Diversity Institute, 2024).
AI USE IN THE JOB MARKET
AI is increasingly used by Indonesian companies to accelerate the hiring process. AI tools assist with tasks such as resume screening, candidate matching, and interview scheduling to reduce the workload on human resources departments. For instance, AI chatbots can analyse curriculum vitae (CVs) to align candidates with job requirements, ensuring that only the most suitable applicants are further considered. The use of chatbots is also appreciated by the candidates themselves, as the chatbots can offer personalised interactions and timely updates on the hiring steps (Moka HR, 2024).
However, the adoption of AI in recruitment also raises concerns about perpetuating potential biases integrated into the systems. For example, AI hiring models have shown a tendency to favour male candidates for technical roles, reflecting historical gender disparities in these fields, and potentially making decisions based on factors not relevant to job performance. If previous senior managers, driven by biases related to gender, age, ethnicity, or religious beliefs, rejected candidates for misguided reasons, the AI system may feed on this past data and misidentify these patterns as indicators of incompetence. This can lead to the exclusion of qualified candidates from under-represented backgrounds (Aditya Malik, 2023).
AI USE IN NLP RESEARCH
Finally, AI plays a crucial role in advancing Natural Language Processing (NLP). This type of technology enables machines to comprehend, interpret, and generate human language, and is playing an increasingly important role in Indonesia’s digital transformation. A practical implementation of AI-driven NLP is a low-cost text-to-speech system designed for elementary schools, which uses stored data to autonomously call students at pickup time by converting names from a cloud-based database into clear audio announcements. This innovation reduces staff workload, enhances student safety, and ensures clear pronunciation, which is especially valuable in a multilingual context like Indonesia (Atmaja, 2025).
NLP technology also poses unique challenges that can contribute to the marginalisation of linguistic communities. One example is Large Language Models (LLMs), which often exhibit significant performance disparities across languages and underperform for the many low-resource languages prevalent throughout the region. This performance gap not only degrades the quality of translations, but also restricts access to essential information and services for speakers of these languages (Media Diversity Institute, 2024).
CONCLUSION
AI is reshaping Indonesia’s digital landscape and has found its way into crucial fields such as law enforcement, employment, and tools useful for education and language development. However, these advancements do not come without risks. The lack of binding regulation, limited technical infrastructure, and the threat of systemic bias (especially towards Indonesian ethnic and linguistic minorities) show the need for a more structured and inclusive approach. While initiatives like the National AI Strategy reflect an intent to align with international principles, there is still work to be done in terms of ensuring that AI systems are not trained with discriminatory data and function according to international human rights standards.
To ensure a responsible and human rights-based use of AI, Indonesia should move towards adopting a binding AI regulation that clearly defines obligations for developers and users, instead of relying on existing regulations in areas such as electronic information and transactions, personal data protection, and the regulation of electronic system operators (AI Tracker Indonesia, 2025). The adoption of regulation could be done both domestically and in collaboration with partners from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) through the development of a regional framework. It is equally essential to improve data protection regulation and ensure a skilled workforce, as it is impossible to enforce human rights standards without the technological know-how of how these AI systems operate (Muhammad Firdaus, 2020).
In addition to binding regulation and more developed related laws, other active steps could include the establishment of independent AI ethics review boards, both for private companies when developing their own AI systems, as well as for public actors such as the government and the judicial system. These boards would be comprised of knowledgeable individuals on the ethics and technical aspects of AI, who could provide unbiased assessments and help ensure the effective implementation of the legal requirements for its use.
To conclude, and following the line of thought of the AI Act, an essential step to reinforce the country’s ethical AI implementation is to improve transparency (UNESCO, 2024). The AI Act’s Article 13 requirement stipulates that high-risk AI systems must be designed to be transparent, enabling users to understand and utilise them correctly (AI Act, 2024). In this sense, Indonesia could promote public databases for AI training and create the obligation for the developers of these systems to provide the deployers with clear instructions on their use. A right to explanation could also be afforded to individuals affected by the decision of an AI system, particularly in law enforcement and criminal contexts.
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