Jakarta pushes AI hub

Jakarta is trying to turn itself into Indonesia’s artificial intelligence center, pairing local-language models with tools built for the country’s small merchants. (komdigi.go.id, portal.komdigi.go.id) Indonesia’s Communications and Digital Ministry launched an Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence in Jakarta on July 11, 2025, and said the site would help turn a national roadmap into working programs. Minister Meutya Hafid said on June 26, 2025 that Indonesia wanted to become a digital leader in Asia through “inclusive” and “ethical” artificial intelligence. (portal.komdigi.go.id, portal.komdigi.go.id) The local-language push is already visible in Sahabat-AI, an open model backed by Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison and GoTo for Bahasa Indonesia and regional languages. Indosat calls it the first large language model in Bahasa Indonesia built in Indonesia for Indonesia. (indosatooredoo.com, jakartaglobe.id) The immediate commercial target is not laboratory research but shopkeeping. Indonesia’s Ministry of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises said in 2025 that the country has 65.5 million micro, small, and medium enterprises employing 119 million workers, which helps explain why local software pitches focus on chat, orders, and stock control. (en.antaranews.com, mediaindonesia.com) That merchant-first approach fits how many Indonesian businesses already operate. Local commerce tools and service providers market WhatsApp-based catalogs, automated order handling, and inventory features because many sellers run sales through messaging instead of standalone websites. (mediaindonesia.com, jualin.net, taptalk.io) Indonesia’s rulebook is still relatively light. The main national guidance is a 2023 ministerial circular on artificial intelligence ethics, while legal analysts said in April 2026 that the country still had no single statute dedicated specifically to artificial intelligence. (jdih.komdigi.go.id, chambers.com) That is starting to change at the margins. Jakarta Globe reported in February 2026 that Indonesia was preparing a ministerial rule requiring watermarks for artificial intelligence-generated content, with platforms responsible for applying labels. (jakartaglobe.id) The government is also tying the artificial intelligence push to language and talent policy. Komdigi said on June 2, 2025 that it was preparing a national roadmap centered on local languages, domestic capability, and what officials called digital sovereignty. (komdigi.go.id) For now, Jakarta’s bet is that Indonesia’s artificial intelligence market will be built one merchant workflow at a time. If that holds, the city’s claim to lead the sector will depend less on headline model counts than on whether shop owners actually replace notebooks and manual WhatsApp chats with software. (en.antaranews.com, mediaindonesia.com, jualin.net)