Jakarta, IO – Discussions have been going on for quite a while on how to create regulations on Artificial Intelligence (AI), a discipline which has been progressing very rapidly. However, along with progress, warnings have been raised by its creators, since the costs of human beings losing control of personal data on the one hand, and increasing cases of hacking and disruption that are becoming more common is frightening. In a way, it becomes out of control: the creator can no longer control the behavior of the created machines.
It is only logical that the awareness and the need for regulating AI has emerged stronger in European countries than in the US, as the latter has been the main source of production of AI, while EU countries are more likely users than producers. In other words, the producers, despite their awareness of the danger, still wait for others to come up with regulations, than otherwise.
Lately, the EU has been more determined to come up with regulations before it is too late. I guess other countries, including Indonesia, are in a better position, more as users than producers, and should also start to decide about joining the effort to set up regulations, if we want to get the benefit of the service, yet mindful of the danger of completely losing control of private data and other information. I have not heard anything being discussed in our country; maybe we must still wait for the new COMINFO Minister who was just being sworn in recently. I hope we will not be late in joining the effort in setting up regulations, as the proliferation of AI use is here to stay. I just hope that we could use AI services without costing so much in terms of losing personal data and whatnot. Since we do not seem to have the expertise yet on this matter, while we know that AI has been widely used in the business world, the most important thing now is that we should just learn from EU experience in terms of what preparations are needed for us to start having our own regulation on AI, such that there is no constraint for us to use and rely on AI services, yet somehow feel safe in using it from the dangers that may arise. So, it is a sort of consumer protection for AI users.
I do not pretend to understand what to regulate with AI; yet in my reading about the development of the debate, it seems that as to what EU has come out in the draft of the AI Act, it is important that the providers of AI services should be transparent about what their products are capable of doing, in terms of collecting personal data and keeping that for some use, and the like. For sure, even when the regulation is already there, enforcement is another matter. Just look at the regulation against corruption in our country: it is there and very clear cut, yet enforcement does not seem to be strong at all, and as a result the regulation does not effectively work. The same in this case, so business communities must take the responsibility that the regulation will be effective for the benefit of all.
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In addition, timing is also an important consideration. Recently capital inflows to China have shown a tendency to decline together with the economic slowdown and weak consumer spending after the opening up policy following the previous Covid-19 lockdown. Instead of resuming strong consumer spending, households seem to choose deleveraging, paying down their debts to guard against a future possible lockdown again. For that matter, this is a good time for Southeast Asia’s economies, including that of Indonesia, to attract foreign investments shifting from China. Of course, in this respect, we must be aware of the strong competition from India emerging recently, as could be seen from PM Narendra Modi’s warm reception in Washington, DC, both by President Biden and the invitation to give a speech before a joint session of the Senate and the House of Representatives. For someone who was previously a persona non-grata in the US, it is certainly due to India’s position both economically as well as politically to succeed or to be at par with China. President Macron likewise also afforded a similar treatment to PM Modi on his visit to France afterwards. These have been the dynamics of geopolitics and geoeconomics which are closely related to AI development and its regulation as my main topic of discussion in this column. Everything is still fluid; we must wait patiently while keep watch on their dynamics.