Indonesia Launches Sovereign AI Initiative to Empower 277 Million Speakers

Indonesia is embarking on a groundbreaking journey in the realm of Sovereign AI for Indonesia, launching an ambitious initiative led by the country’s tech leaders in collaboration with NVIDIA and key partners. This pioneering effort, known as Sahabat-AI, is a testament to Indonesia’s dedication to achieving digital sovereignty and inclusivity for its vast population of over 277 million Indonesian speakers. The initiative is grounded in the cultural ethos of “gotong royong,” emphasizing mutual aid and community collaboration, setting the stage for a transformative national AI movement.

Harnessing NVIDIA Technology for Digital Sovereignty

At the heart of Sahabat-AI is the strategic use of NVIDIA’s advanced technologies, including the NeMo and NIM microservices. These are pivotal in developing groundbreaking open-source Indonesian large language models (LLMs). Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (IOH) and Lintasarta, its subsidiary, have been crucial in this endeavor, building a high-performance AI cloud, “GPU Merdeka by Lintasarta,” powered by NVIDIA GPUs. This cloud operates at the BDx Indonesia AI data center, which is notable for its use of renewable energy, ensuring a sustainable approach to technological advancement.

The NVIDIA Cloud Partner program has been instrumental in rapidly constructing this AI infrastructure, offering access to NVIDIA reference architectures, technological support, and state-of-the-art AI software and computing platforms. This quick deployment showcases the potential of public-private partnerships to expedite technological progress.

A Vision for the Future: Democratizing AI

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang articulates the broader vision behind AI initiatives like Sahabat-AI. “AI will democratize technology. It is the great equalizer,” Huang states. He describes Indonesia’s tradition of gotong royong as a blueprint for collaboration between industry, academia, and government—a model that can guide nations worldwide in harnessing AI for development. This sentiment is echoed by IOH President Director Vikram Sinha, who emphasizes that Sahabat-AI is not merely a technological milestone but a critical step toward using AI as a tool for growth and empowerment across Indonesian society.

Revolutionizing Industries with AI Applications

• Healthcare Innovation: Leveraging Sahabat-AI, Hippocratic AI is creating digital agents capable of empathetic, human-like interactions with patients. These agents significantly uplift healthcare accessibility and quality by managing time-consuming tasks, thus relieving medical staff to focus on critical care duties. The initiative keeps patient data local and secure, thanks to IOH’s sovereign AI cloud, which facilitates low-latency AI inference critical for effective service delivery.
• Financial and Energy Services: Partnering with Accenture, IOH is developing AI applications using the NVIDIA AI Enterprise software platform. These applications cater specifically to the needs of financial services and energy sectors, ensuring sovereign data governance and improving operational efficiency.
• Public Sector Services: In collaboration with Tech Mahindra, Indonesia is building a comprehensive citizen services platform. At its core is an AI chatbot that utilizes the Sahabat-AI LLMs to respond in Bahasa Indonesia, enhancing service delivery for various governmental processes. This chatbot is part of a larger effort to develop a citizen-centric AI infrastructure.
• On-Demand Service Models: GoTo, a premier on-demand service provider, is embedding Sahabat-AI into its voice assistant, Dira. This integration aims to deliver culturally relevant, localized customer interactions, enhancing user experience across its wide range of services, including ride bookings and financial transactions.

Looking Ahead: A Promising AI Future

Lintasarta has committed to expanding its AI infrastructure with further advanced NVIDIA technologies. This growth aligns with Indonesia’s Golden Indonesia 2045 vision, aiming for a digitally empowered future. Sahabat-AI is poised to drive transformation across various industries by allowing local governments, businesses, and startups to build, customize, and deploy generative AI applications tailored to local languages and cultural contexts.

Globally, NVIDIA’s technologies are bolstering similar sovereign AI initiatives in other regions, such as India, Japan, and Taiwan, highlighting the worldwide significance of such collaborative efforts. By leveraging public-private partnerships and cutting-edge AI technologies, Sahabat-AI represents a profound leap towards digital transformation and sovereignty in Indonesia.

This collaboration marks a significant milestone in the journey of integrating Sovereign AI for Indonesia into the national fabric, propelling the nation towards a future where advanced technologies foster growth, inclusivity, and empowerment across all societal sectors.

For more details, visit the NVIDIA Blog on Indonesia’s AI initiative.