Deputy Minister Stella Warns Indonesian Firms: AI Adoption Yields Returns Only After 2-3 Years

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - Artificial intelligence technology cannot immediately generate large profits. Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Stella Christie, cited global data revealing that the majority of gains are only felt after two to three years. “We start from 70% of companies that will increase revenue through artificial intelligence. But if we look at the data, even though the expectation is immediate, the return on investment (ROI) is 7-12 months,” Stella said at the Grab Business Forum 2026 in Jakarta on Tuesday (9/6/2026). “It turns out, this is data from globally, the majority only feel it after two to three years,” she added. She advised not to fall into the trap of simply using AI. In business, the most important element is the human resource capacity to make decisions related to AI. This includes deciding whether a problem can be solved by AI or not, considering the high costs involved, as well as when to adopt it. This is done by calculating whether AI adoption will be detrimental to the company and the system being built. “Producing outputs that remain profitable and do not harm the company or damage the system we have created,” Stella stated. On the same occasion, Stella also shared four steps for adopting AI within a company. The first is ‘What’, which involves understanding what problem you want to solve with AI. The second is ‘When’, specifically when to adopt it so that when ready, AI can be used at an affordable cost. Next is ‘Who’, ensuring that people are knowledgeable about and understand the timing of AI adoption. The final point concerns ‘humans in the loop’, aimed at maintaining existing human resources. “What is important, after maintaining the human in the loop, do not fire them if possible for points 1-3 (what, when, and who). They still need them,” she explained.