Jakarta. Indonesia will fully deploy artificial intelligence or AI to watch over its social aid rollout -- a move that will lead to multi-billion-dollar worth of cost savings, according to chief economic advisor Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan.

The Luhut-led digital transformation committee has been trying to tackle leakages in Indonesia’s social assistance program.

The government is developing an AI-run system that allows Indonesia’s poor to digitally sign up for social aid just by submitting their 16-digit national identity number and facial verification. The technology will determine whether they are eligible to prevent the money from going to the rich.

Speaking to the press on Wednesday, Luhut said that his team kicked off the trial run in the Javanese town of Banyuwangi. Its reach will soon expand to 42 cities and regencies. President Prabowo Subianto will check on its progress -- possibly in Banyuwangi, Surabaya, or Bali -- next month before its eventual official launch.

“The president will launch the program nationwide in either October or November 2026. As many as 35 million Indonesian families are on social assistance. We are hoping to cover at least 90% of the regions by then,” Luhut said in Jakarta.

These efforts are estimated to save between “$10 billion and $15 billion” in costs. In a statement, the committee clarified that this “strategic estimate” was still subject to change, depending on the quality of the data it has amassed and how many regions it has reached.

A social aid recipient usually would have to spend Rp 150,000 ($8.46), but the new regime is expected to bring costs down to 0. It would also slash the registration time from 200 days to just minutes, the committee claimed. Nearly 370,000 people have used the platform so far. 

Luhut told the press that the system currently relies on the existing national data center. His team is now “thinking hard” to find ways to avoid using the state budget following the larger server demand, including by involving the telecommunications giant Telkom.

Luhut did not confirm or deny when asked if Jakarta was mulling incorporating the AI technology into the nationwide free meal program. The ex-investment tsar replied: “We’ll see how the policies go. We recommend the president make data-based decisions.”

At home, Indonesians are grappling with skyrocketing prices following the Iran war. Luhut had previously said that Indonesia would switch from providing staple goods to cash transfers of Rp 5.4 million (around $304.5) per recipient for the low-income household.

Add as a preferred source on Google +