Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs is moving to strengthen the country’s technological independence by developing what it calls “sovereign AI” through a new national program known as the AI Talent Factory, according to reporting by ANTARA.
Speaking at the AI Talent Day & Graduation 2025 event in Jakarta on Wednesday, Deputy Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs Nezar Patria said the initiative is designed to ensure Indonesia builds artificial intelligence systems that are developed domestically and reflect national values and societal needs.
“Our goal is to build sovereign AI, AI whose models are created by Indonesia and reflect the values of our society,” Patria said, as quoted by ANTARA.
The AI Talent Factory is positioned as a flagship government program aimed at accelerating the growth of Indonesia’s AI ecosystem while addressing long-term workforce needs. Through the initiative, the government hopes to produce as many as 12 million digital talents as part of a broader push toward technological sovereignty.
Patria said the program is not only focused on technical training, but also on preparing future generations to confront emerging technological challenges and actively contribute to the country’s AI development. Graduates are expected to play a larger role in building and deploying AI systems across key sectors of the economy.
According to ANTARA, the ministry has observed strong public enthusiasm for AI technologies in Indonesia, particularly through the widespread adoption of generative AI tools in creative industries. AI-driven features have also become increasingly embedded in social media platforms and digital services used daily by Indonesians.
Patria stressed that Indonesia does not want to remain merely a consumer of foreign-developed AI technologies. “We do not want to only be users. We do not want to only become a market,” he said. “We want to be players. We do not only want to be users, but we want to become deployers as well as developers in the field of AI.”
He added that several advanced economies, including Japan and countries in Europe, have already pursued the development of AI models tailored to their own social and cultural contexts. Indonesia, he said, aims to follow a similar path by investing in homegrown talent and domestically developed AI systems, laying the groundwork for a more self-reliant digital future.
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