Vice President reviews AI training implementation for Tremas students in Pacitan
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Vice President (Wapres) Gibran Rakabuming Raka visited the Islamic Boarding School Pondok Tremas in Pacitan, East Java, to directly monitor the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) training for the students.
According to an official statement from the Vice President’s Secretariat received in Jakarta on Thursday, Vice President Gibran visited the Islamic Boarding School Pondok Tremas on Thursday as a form of maintaining relations while reviewing efforts to strengthen the younger generation, including the students, to face digital transformation.
“Because it’s very important in the future to face the challenges of an all-digital era. Everyone must learn, and the students must not be left behind,” said Gibran.
During the visit, the Vice President directly observed the learning process and outcomes, engaged in dialogue with the students, and ensured that the training programme was running optimally and providing tangible benefits in enhancing technological literacy within the boarding school environment.
The Vice President reminded that learning robotics, AI, and coding is crucial for honing the students’ critical and computational thinking, so that they do not merely become users but also creators of technology.
In a dialogue session with the students, Vice President Gibran responded to the concerns of one student who admitted to being worried about technological developments. The student expressed his fear that in the future, after graduation, many jobs would be replaced by robots and artificial intelligence.
“Many jobs are being replaced by AI, people are losing their jobs, like in factories being replaced by robots,” said the student, giving an example.
In response, the Vice President emphasised that humans still hold the primary role behind technology.
“Who makes the robots? It’s humans, right? AI is made with prompting; the one typing the prompts is still human, right? In fact, now there will be many new jobs. So, no need to be afraid. Humans won’t be replaced,” said the Vice President.
The Vice President stressed that the key to facing change is readiness to continuously learn and adapt.
“I believe in the future they can be useful, especially when they enter the workforce, and this is what we call technological disruption, which we increasingly cannot control. That’s why we must always upgrade ourselves,” he said.
Previously, the Caretaker of the Islamic Boarding School Pondok Tremas, K.H. Luqman Harist Dhimyathi, expressed his hope that the technology training programme could continue and not stop at this event alone.
“Everything we have gained over these two days, in the form of technology, information, AI, and other training, hopefully can be sustainable, because our students are very pleased and feel they have gained extraordinary knowledge with this technological knowledge,” he said.
For information, this AI and Robotics Training lasted for two days, involving 30 male and female students at the Madrasah Aliyah level. The activity introduced a robotics curriculum based on computational thinking to strengthen logic, mathematical thinking, and problem-solving abilities from an early stage.
The programme used Whalesbot robots, assembled progressively from basic to advanced levels. Through hands-on practice, the students learned to assemble and programme robots while thinking systematically and critically.
During the visit, the Vice President was accompanied by the President’s Special Envoy for Youth Development and Arts Workers, Raffi Ahmad, the Deputy Governor of East Java, Emil Dardak, and the Deputy Regent of Pacitan, Gagarin Sumrambah.