Indonesia, Singapore Develop AI Tool for Indonesian Language

Jakarta – A ChatGPT-like tool in Indonesian language is in the works, following a new agreement between Singapore and Indonesia to collaborate in the field of artificial intelligence (AI).

Four Indonesian entities signed a letter of intent in Jakarta on November 30 with AI Singapore, the Republic’s national AI programme, to co-develop a new large language model (LLM). 

The agreement will focus on the Indonesian language. This is because ChatGPT from OpenAI and Bard from Google still focus a lot on English.

Based on Statista data in January 2023, the dominance of English is 58.8% for web content, while Indonesian only has a portion of 0.6%. 

This fact emphasizes the need for broader research and development to meet the needs of the Indonesian language.

It is from this data that BRIN (National Research and Innovation Agency), KORIKA (Artificial Intelligence Research and Innovation Collaboration), and 2 GDP Venture portfolios (Glair.ai & Datasaur.ai) together with AI Singapore (AISG) initiated this collaborative project that aims to develop an open Indonesian language LLM that can be utilized by various parties at large.

AISG as a developer of open LLM in Southeast Asia sees Indonesia as having huge potential. 

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Communication and Information Nezar Patria said that the development of this innovation will continue to grow. Later, AI can speak in regional languages.

"The database uses languages in ASEAN, especially Indonesian. I think this is an innovation that we must support because later it will be able to develop further, it can also speak regional languages in Indonesia," Patria said on Thursday. 

Head of BRIN's Data and Information Science Research Center, Esa Prakasa explained that this latest innovation provides considerable benefits to BRIN. These benefits include improving the quality and efficiency of research, increasing public accessibility, supporting technology development, and improving the quality of human resources. 

The implementation of LLM also opens up opportunities for knowledge acquisition, both in the scientific context and in local culture. 

In addition to providing benefits to society, the implementation of LLM Bahasa Indonesia can support the Indonesian government in improving the quality of communication with the public and has the potential to make a positive contribution to national economic growth.