Analyst Says AI Talent Factory Programme Needs to Be Expanded
Jakarta (ANTARA) – Telecommunications analyst Heru Sutadi says the scale of the AI Talent Factory programme needs to be expanded, given Indonesia’s large and rapidly growing demand for digital talent.
Heru said the programme has strong potential to bridge the skills gap in artificial intelligence (AI), as participants are assigned to work on real-world cases with universities, experts and industry.
“We need a clear pathway from education and training to certification, industry projects and employment. We must not succeed in producing AI talent but fail to provide opportunities for them to contribute and develop the national AI industry,” Heru told ANTARA on Wednesday.
The executive director of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Institute also welcomed the programme’s integration with the state-owned enterprises’ AI Talent Pool, describing it as a strategic way to connect training outcomes with job opportunities.
However, he cautioned that the curriculum should not focus solely on technical skills for building models.
AI talent must also understand the supporting ecosystem, he said, including data engineering, cloud computing, cyber security, system integration, AI ethics, personal data protection and business needs.
“The ability to develop AI in Indonesian and understand the local context is also important. It is not enough to train people who can build AI models; we need talent capable of creating solutions that are safe, useful and genuinely adopted,” he said.
Heru outlined four crucial measures to strengthen the AI Talent Factory. The first is to introduce outcome-based evaluation that measures graduates’ competencies, employment rates and the solutions they implement.
Second, partnerships should be expanded to include state-owned enterprises, start-ups and local governments, so that talent-developed projects do not stall at the prototype stage.
“The AI Talent Factory must become an ecosystem connecting talent, research, industry and markets, not merely a training programme. The ultimate measures are productivity, innovation, quality jobs and the growth of AI products created in Indonesia,” Heru said.
The Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs (Kemkomdigi) is preparing the AI Talent Factory to develop new digital talent and accelerate the formation of a national artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem.
Kemkomdigi has designed the AI Talent Factory as a centre for developing digital talent through research and industry.
Participants will be directed to take part in strategic national projects across priority sectors, including health, education, financial services and agriculture.