Behind the Scenes of BRI's Applications: UBSI Alumnus Taufan 'Refuses to be Made Foolish' by AI

The BSI Convention Center in Bekasi was filled with the enthusiasm of thousands of new students during the 2026 UBSI Academic Orientation and Motivation Seminar. Amidst the grandeur of the event, the spotlight fell on a modest young man named Muhammad Taufan.

Taufan may appear like any other young man, but in the world of digital banking, he serves as a ‘goalkeeper’ ensuring millions of transactions proceed without hindrance. A 2019 graduate of the Information Systems Study Programme at Universitas Bina Sarana Informatika (UBSI), he now holds a strategic position as a QA Automation specialist at Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI).

Every day, millions of customers rely on applications such as Brimo, Brispot, and Brimerchant to conduct transactions. This is where Taufan’s role becomes crucial. “My task is to perform automated application testing using programmes. Additionally, I conduct performance testing to test server strength. Essentially, ensuring how many users can be served at one time without issues,” Taufan explained when speaking to the media.

Navigating the path from the bottom was not easy. Reaching a position within a giant State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) was no coincidence. Taufan faced a steep climb following his graduation in 2019. His career began at an outsourcing company, where he had to act as a student again, participating in bootcamps and internships, until his skills were recognised and he was placed as a client at BRI in 2021.

The secret to his adaptability lies in his university years. Rather than being a ‘commuter student’ who only attends classes and goes home, the young Taufan chose a more active path. He was active in organisations and dedicated himself to teaching—a unique habit that shaped his professional mindset. “Back in my third semester, I was already used to organising morning training sessions to teach C++ programming to first-year students. This continued in my fifth semester, where I taught VB.Net,” he recalled with a smile.

For Taufante, the classroom was not just a place to transfer knowledge, but a crucible for his own development. “By teaching, we are forced to deepen our understanding of the fundamental concepts of the field we are pursuing,” he said.

This habit of honing skills through teaching has followed him to the skyscrapers of the capital. At BRI, Taufan is frequently trusted to provide training to his fellow colleagues.

Beyond academics, Taufan remembers his time at UBSI as a valuable period surrounded by a positive social circle. “During university, developing alongside like-minded friends is far more exciting than being alone,” he added.

Today, the technological landscape has changed drastically with the disruption of Artificial Intelligence (AI). As an IT practitioner who has experienced this transition, Taufan is acutely aware of the difference. Where he once had to strain his brain searching for coding error solutions via YouTube or Stack Overflow, ChatGPT can now provide answers in seconds.

However, facing the Generation Z cohort of 2026 who are growing up alongside AI, Taufan issued a stern warning. He believes the ease provided by AI is a double-edged sword that could slowly dull the critical thinking of students if used as a shortcut. “We are now in the era of AI. We must learn to use it, but we must not become dependent on it or be made foolish by it. Use it as an assistant, not as a replacement for our brains,” he advised firmly.

Taufan highlighted the phenomenon of many students simply copy-pasting answers from AI to finish assignments quickly, without understanding the underlying logic. “If you truly want to master a subject, you should ‘stay up all night’ with AI. Dissect every line of code, ask why the code is written this way or that, rather than just accepting the result to finish a task quickly,” he concluded.

Muhammad Taufan’s story at the 2026 UBSI seminar is more than just a tale of career achievement; it is a reflection on how students should shape themselves. From his teaching habits on campus to becoming a vital figure behind national banking applications, Taufan proves that no matter how advanced AI becomes, it can never defeat the perseverance and mentality of a true learner.