AI Phenomenon: House Deputy Speaker Suggests This for Civil Servants Who Cannot Adapt
Deputy Speaker of House Commission II of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Dede Yusuf, has weighed in on discussions about the potential efficiency of the state civil apparatus (ASN) amid the development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. He said that civil servants in the digital era must adapt to the times.
“I do not agree with the concept of replacing civil servants with AI. What must happen is preparing ‘civil servants who are able to adapt to AI as well’, so that their competence and ability to master AI must be improved, because the world will certainly change, as will modes of work,” Dede told reporters on Tuesday (25/8/2026).
The deputy chairman of the Democratic Party said that a number of civil servant jobs require direct interaction with the public. He highlighted the public service, health, and construction sectors, which require going directly into the field.
“For those who cannot adapt, they must also be given competence in jobs that suit the needs of direct services, such as public services, health, public complaints, construction, agriculture, or others that require direct hands-on involvement. So the principle is usefulness in every line,” he said.
He said the development of AI does not only affect the administrative field but all lines of industry. For this reason, Dede Yusuf reminded that efficiency should not be linked to reducing the number of civil servants.
“This is actually the same as other worlds of work that are affected by Industry 4.0, and now we are even in Era 5.0. This means that when the private world changes towards collaboration with digital technology, the government must also follow the changes,” Dede said.
“So efficiency should not be seen as reducing the number of civil servants, but as placement that is in accordance with the progress of the times and the demands of future work,” he added.
Previously, the Head of the National Institute of Public Administration (LAN), Muhammad Taufik, said that his institution has carried out a transformation of civil servant competency development. One of its focuses is improving civil servant competence through learning in the field of AI.
“The achievements in implementing the competency development transformation over the past nearly two years have been carried out by transforming and strengthening the learning ecosystem involving various parties, including many technology start-ups in the private sector, especially as we want to strengthen competency development in the field of AI,” Taufik said.
He revealed that LAN is collaborating with various technology companies, both domestic and foreign, to improve civil servant competence.
“We are not only partnering with domestic parties, but also foreign ones. Not only the government, but also the private sector, such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon Web Services, and so on,” he said.
“And we hope this makes it easier for civil servants to learn in an impactful way, learning that is truly oriented towards outcomes,” he added.