Indonesia plans to embed artificial intelligence in some key government programs including its $15 billion free meals plan, according to a presidential regulation draft seen by Reuters, part of a strategy that the government believes could lift its gross domestic product by 12% by 2030.Indonesia's progress on AI has been slow when compared with Singapore and Malaysia. They are pushing to establish themselves as development hubs, securing billions of dollars from global tech firms that are seeking to build critical infrastructure to meet growing demand for cloud and AI services.
The presidential regulation lays out a roadmap for ministries and regional governments to adopt AI from 2026 to 2029, targeting "economic growth through development, facilitation and use of AI especially in the president's priority programs."
The draft has not been previously reported upon. It is currently awaiting President Prabowo Subianto's signature.
The government says in its draft that another goal is to make Indonesia more competitive in AI use regionally and globally.
Companies like Meta Platforms, IBM and Microsoft contributed to the draft, said Wahyudi Djafar, a tech analyst who wrote parts of the regulation and is a member of the AI government task force. The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
