- Indonesia completes Phase 1 of its AI Talent Factory, a joint initiative by Komdigi and Universitas Brawijaya to link AI education with industry needs.
- The initiative aims to develop a skilled AI workforce, focusing on practical industry-ready AI skills across healthcare, education, logistics, and government sectors.
- Plans are underway to expand to top universities, but analysts note the scale gap, with Indonesia needing ~600,000 digital-skilled workers annually versus current AI development targets.
The Indonesian government, through its Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs (Komdigi), has just completed the first phase of its AI Talent Factory. This is a small, albeit symbolic, step that is a precursor to further advancements for Indonesia and its efforts to advance its AI talent. The project, started in August 2025, is a collaborative effort between Komdigi and Universitas Brawijaya.
The AI Talent Factory has been envisioned as a link between academic and industry circles, particularly focusing on establishing a start-to-work attitude regarding AI capabilities and not merely academic knowledge. The initiative is designed to cover the themes of revamping AI education, establishing a linkage between industry requirements and AI graduates, and also promoting the development of innovative AI-based solutions. Komdigi has launched the initiative as the starting point of preparing the Indonesian workforce for the fast pace of technological evolution, especially in the rising integration of artificial intelligence in the fields of healthcare, education, logistics, industry, and government services.
With the pilot run already done, Komdigi indicates its interest in extending the project to other premier universities, such as Universitas Gadjah Mada and Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember in Surabaya. Extending its pilot project to other universities indicates institutional momentum in recognizing the need to develop a talent pipeline in the field of AI. However, in the context of Indonesia’s national aspirations, the current development plan is quite limited in size. Indonesia’s AI development plan targets the development of 100,000 AI professionals annually to achieve a total of 20 million AI-educated citizens with a talent composition that consists of 30 percent system developers and 70 percent AI end users.
Also Read: Hong Kong Leads Dialogue on Regional Collaboration for Talent Growth
Analysts in the industry believe that the challenge may be bigger compared to the figures stated in the target. According to Kearney, Indonesia’s digital economy will require almost 600,000 digital-skilled workers every year. The uncertainty has been further fueled by the fact that the key performance indicators from the first phase of the Komdigi's Artificial Intelligence Talent Factory have yet to be announced by the company. Such indicators include the figures for the incoming students, the pass rate, and the placement rate after the training session.
The AI Talent Factory is not alone but is a vehicle within an overall eco-system of initiatives to improve the pool of Indonesian talent in AI and digital technologies as a whole. The Indonesian AI Center of Excellence has tied up with Nvidia’s Deep Learning Institute to provide training, while Cisco has pledged to train 500,000 Indonesians by 2030. For underlying infrastructure, telcos Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison has come up to support projects involving AI, which range from education, health, agricultural, to food security areas. All these moves together reflect the commitment of Indonesia in making talent development in the field of AI a high national economic priority. Although it is quite heartening to note the completion of the initial phase of the development of the AI Talent Factory, it will be determined not by their present progress but by their efficiency in delivering large-scale results.
