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Govt eyes Rp 100t in savings through use of AI in social aid
National Economic Council (DEN) head Luhut Pandjaitan said the program would use facial recognition to identify eligible recipients based on government data.
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Everyday AI: A man scans his face on June 22, 2023, before boarding a train at Gubeng Station in Surabaya, East Java. (AFP/Juni Kriswanto)
A
plan to deploy artificial intelligence to distribute social aid could save the state Rp 100 trillion (US$6.2 billion), the government claims, as it prepares to roll out a broader AI road map next month.
National Economic Council (DEN) head Luhut Pandjaitan said on Monday the program would use facial recognition to identify eligible aid recipients based on government data.
The system, Luhut added, aimed to reduce fraud and inefficiencies in the disbursements of state subsidies.
President Prabowo Subianto had backed the initiative, he noted, and wanted the AI-based aid distribution system to be implemented as early as August.
“Who is eligible and [who is] not will be verified through facial recognition. This digitalization could save us up to Rp 100 trillion,” Luhut said at the launch of Sahabat AI, an open-source large language model (LLM) specialized in the use of the Indonesian language.
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The plan would be part of the country’s broader push to adopt digital technology to boost growth, Luhut explained, citing figures that AI adoption and other technologies could add $2.8 trillion to Southeast Asia’s largest economy in 2040 and increase annual GDP growth by an average of 0.55 percentage points.
