Indosat and GoTo launch new AI ecosystem

Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (IOH) and PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia Tbk (GoTo Group) have introduced the initial phase of Sahabat-AI, an open-source Large Language Model (LLM) ecosystem specifically crafted for Bahasa Indonesia and its regional dialects.

The announcement was made at Indonesia AI Day with key figures such as Erick Thohir, minister of state-owned enterprises of Indonesia, and Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, in attendance.

Sahabat-AI is designed to fill linguistic gaps not addressed by current global AI models. It aligns with the Golden Indonesia 2045 vision aiming to emphasise leadership in technology and infrastructure. The initiative claims to bolster Indonesia's digital sovereignty while preserving linguistic heritage and fostering socio-economic progress.

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"Indonesia, as a large nation with aspirations to achieve Golden Indonesia by 2045, possesses a crucial asset that must be managed very well—its human resources, which will reach the peak of a demographic bonus in the 2030s. The capability of superior human resources will be a key determinant of a nation’s progress. Especially in this era of rapid technological disruption, one of which includes artificial intelligence (AI)," said Gibran Rakabuming Raka, vice president of the Republic of Indonesia.

"The government remains committed to enhancing the readiness of human resources and creating an ecosystem that empowers the younger generation to innovate, modify, and develop technology, including AI-based advancements, across economic, social, cultural, and linguistic domains," added Gibran. 

The Sahabat-AI project involves collaboration among research institutes, universities, media organisations, government agencies, and other partners. By combining international expertise with local innovation, the initiative addresses Indonesia’s specific needs. Supporting entities such as AI Singapore and Tech Mahindra utilise NVIDIA AI Enterprise and NVIDIA NeMo to enhance the model's training and language understanding capabilities.

Prominent Indonesian universities and media groups, including the University of Indonesia and Kompas Group, contribute to ensuring the AI's cultural relevance.

Sahabat-AI will begin with models comprising 8-billion and 9-billion parameters to handle extensive data in Bahasa Indonesia, backed by the Indosat Group GPU Merdeka sovereign AI cloud service equipped with NVIDIA technology.

 “Sahabat-AI is not just a technological achievement, it embodies Indonesia’s vision for a future where digital sovereignty and inclusivity go hand in hand. By creating an AI model that speaks our language and reflects our culture, we empower every Indonesian to harness advanced technology's potential. This initiative is a crucial step towards democratising AI as a tool for growth, innovation, and empowerment across our diverse society," Vikram Sinha, president director and chief executive officer Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison.

The model is designed to enable Indonesians from private, public and educational sectors to interact with advanced AI technology in their native language. By bridging the digital divide in this way, Sahabat-AI not only fosters digital literacy in Indonesia, but also accelerates growth across key sectors, according to a statement seen by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE.

 “Our vision for Sahabat-AI is to put the power of AI into the hands of everyone in Indonesia. By operating in Bahasa Indonesia, Sahabat-AI addresses critical context and cultural reference gaps left by the global large language models. It will help our businesses to communicate in new ways with customers, it will help our government ministries develop tools to engage with citizens more comprehensively and it will drive meaningful change for millions of people across the country," said Patrick Walujo, chief executive officer of GoTo. 

"However, the only way to realise this vision is with the support of others. This is why we are inviting stakeholders from all sectors to join the development of this important open-source LLM ecosystem as we aim to drive the country forward together," said Walujo. 

As Indonesia pursues its Golden Indonesia 2045 ambition, Sahabat-AI is positioned as a significant advancement expected to elevate the nation’s standing within the global AI sector, added the statement. 

“Sahabat-AI launches Indonesia's AI journey and showcases how LLMs can be tailored to serve unique linguistic and cultural needs. Indonesia’s culture of ‘gotong royong,’ or mutual collaboration, demonstrates how industry, researchers and the public sector can come together to help every nation use AI to advance development," said Jensen Huang, NVIDIA founder and CEO. 

Sahabat-AI is just one of the new AI developments in Indonesia in recent months. 

Earlier in September, GoTo Group collaborated with Microsoft Indonesia in a move to adopt AI developer tool GitHub Copilot. GitHub Copilot is a tool which boosts engineers' productivity and satisfaction in daily coding tasks with its AI capabilities.

This includes real-time code suggestions, chat assistance in the integrated development environment and breaking down complex coding concepts using daily conversational language. 

GoTo’s move in integrating AI into the company’s workflow underscores its commitment to driving innovation while empowering its workforce to deliver impactful technology at scale, said a statement seen by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE at the time. 

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