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Alibaba and GoTo Boost Indonesia’s AI Talent Through GenAI Hackathon 2025
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Photo: Goto
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libaba Cloud collaborated with PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia (GOTO) and the Communications and Digital Ministry to organize the Alibaba Cloud Indonesia GenAI Hackathon 2025.
The competition aimed to encourage artificial intelligence innovation among developers, start-ups and students, as well as to drive transformation in Indonesia through cutting-edge AI solutions and leverage AI for social and economic impact.
Hackathon participants were required to use several technologies from Alibaba Cloud and Sahabat-AI, an open-source large language model (LLM) developed by GoTo and Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison specifically for Indonesia, utilizing local context as well as Indonesian and regional languages.
Approximately 1,500 participants including engineers, developers, students, researchers, AI enthusiasts and start-up founders registered for the 2025 Indonesia GenAI Hackathon.
The list was narrowed down to around 200 finalists, who were selected to take part in the offline competition at Habitate in Kuningan, South Jakarta, from May 24 to 25.
In the final round on May 25, selected teams competed before a panel of judges from Alibaba, DS/X Ventures and GoTo, with winners receiving prizes of cash, Alibaba Cloud credit and a group trip to the Alibaba Cloud Global Summit 2025.
Rocky Liu, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence’s regional solution architect director for South Pacific & Japan, said the company was honored to collaborate with GoTo and the Communications and Digital Ministry for the competition’s third year.
“This year, we are also very enthusiastic to introduce a variety of the latest AI technologies from Alibaba Cloud, such as Model Studio, Lingma, PAI and Qwen LLM, to the participants. We can't wait to see how Indonesia's great talent will utilize this technology to create real solutions that have an impact, both for the local community and the world,” he said.
In her opening remarks, GoTo Group’s Chief of Human Resources Monica Oudang highlighted the hackathon demonstrated GoTo’s commitment to developing the next generation of tech leaders. Aside from the hackathon, the company runs programs like the GoTo Engineering Bootcamp and the Associate Product Manager Bootcamp to better equip tech talents with the necessary skills and experience.
In addition to joining the judging panel, GoTo provided case studies and problem statements for the participants, along with serving as mentors to direct, guide and explain the GoTo and Sahabat-AI ecosystems.
According to Monica, this allows the solutions created through AI to be more inclusive.
“This event is not only a place to show off technical skills, but also hone 21st century skills such as collaboration, creativity and problem solving. We’re even more excited that today’s participants will have access to Sahabat-AI and we hope through Sahabat-AI, they will be able to develop solutions uniquely tailored to Indonesian needs, while inspiring the next generations of AI talents in Indonesia,” she said.
Bonifasius Wahyu Pudjianto, the head of the Communications and Digital Ministry’s Human Resources Development Agency expressed his appreciation for the strategic collaboration between Alibaba Cloud and GoTo Group.
“This kind of synergy is key to building a strong, competitive and future-oriented digital ecosystem,” he said.
Overall, the GenAI Hackathon 2025 was a strong display of collaboration, with each partner contributing unique strengths. Alibaba Cloud provided advanced global AI tools, while the Communications and Digital Ministry ensured alignment with Indonesia’s digital talent development agenda, and GOTO anchored the event in supporting the local talent, reinforcing its commitment to building Indonesia’s tech ecosystem.
In November 2024 and witnessed by President Prabowo Subianto in Beijing, GoTo Group, Tencent Cloud and Alibaba Cloud signed a partnership to strengthen Indonesia's cloud infrastructure and local digital talent.
