Deputy Minister of Communication and Digital emphasises ethics-based AI governance for regulation

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Deputy Minister of Communication and Digital (Wamenkomdigi) Nezar Patria emphasised that ethics-based governance of artificial intelligence (AI) can be translated into binding regulations. Ethics, Nezar stated, lacks enforcement power and therefore needs to be converted into regulations that include sanctions and penalties. The greatest challenge in AI governance today is no longer technological development. “So the challenge in every discussion about ethics is how far these ethics can form the basis for regulation development, because without legal force, it is futile. Ethics has no enforcement power, but regulations do have sanctions and penalties,” Nezar said in his official statement received on Thursday. Nezar said that concern for ethics is growing, as evidenced by technology companies recruiting humanities and philosophy graduates to help evaluate their products that interact with humans. He also appreciated the efforts made by technology companies to mitigate emerging ethical risks. He added that in the development of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), ethical aspects are considered important due to potential conflicts in values. “Ethics is important because in AI developments, we will encounter very fundamental issues, especially conflicts in values, norms, and visions,” Nezar stated. “We know that AI, especially generative AI based on Large Language Models, is mostly shaped by Western countries, so conflicts in values are very likely to occur in data processing and decision-making by this AI,” he said. In this regard, Deputy Minister Nezar supports the planned Global Ethics Forum in Indonesia in October and hopes the event can produce global agreements so that ethics can hold a more strategic position.