On December 22, 2023, the Ministry of Communication and Information (Kominfo) announced that it had signed Circular Number 9 of 2023 concerning the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence on December 19, 2023 (the Circular). In particular, Kominfo stated that the Circular contains three policies, namely ethical values, implementation of ethical values, and responsibility in the use and development of artificial intelligence (AI). More specifically, Kominfo stated that the Circular will apply to businesses in AI-based programming activities in the public and private sectors.

What are the key provisions of the Circular?

The Circular provides, among other things, the values ​​of inclusivity, accessibility, security, and humanity, as well as credibility and accountability in the use of AI. According to Kominfo, the Circular specifies three main approaches for implementing AI ethical values, including:

• implementing AI as a support for human activities, especially to increase user creativity in solving problems and work;
• implementation that protects privacy and data so that no individual is harmed; and
• supervision of the use to prevent misuse of AI by the Government, organizers, and users.

Kominfo also highlighted three ways in which the public and private sectors could realize their responsibility for the development and use of AI, namely:

• ensuring that AI is not used as a policy maker and/or decision maker regarding humanity;
• providing information related to the development of AI-based technology by developers to prevent negative impacts and losses from the resulting technology; and
• paying attention to risk management and crisis management in AI development.

You can read the press release here and the Circular here, both only available in Indonesian.