For the first time in Indonesia, Generative AI was employed and used at-scale in the Indonesia political sphere.

1. The Use of AI in Indonesia
Election 2024: A Case Study
Damar Juniarto
Center of AI and Tech Innovation for Democracy /
PIKAT Demokrasi (Pusat Inovasi Kecerdasan Artifisial
dan Teknologi untuk Demokrasi)
27 May 2024
Deep Dive on AI, Democracy, Human Rights, and the Rule of Law • The
Netherland Ministry of Interior and Kingdom Relations & the UN HL-AIAB

2. Background
This observation was focus on the
use of AI in the Indonesia General
Election 2024 and whether having
ethical guidelines is enough to
address the concerns surrounding its
use and misuse.

3. Use Case of AI in Indonesia
Political Context 2024
During general election 2024 in Indonesia, for the first time, AI
was employed and heavily use in the political sphere.
• Pemilu.ai – An AI political consultant and can provide
tailored political content for politicians who use the services.
• Bijakmemilih.id - Help first time voters with an AI assistant
to choose an ideal political candidate based on their profile.
• Facial enhancement using AI - For creating political
campaign materials
• Deepfakes/synthetic media - For various reasons, from
spreading disinformation until toxic positivity, to gain
popularity and political support.

4. Deepfakes in Election 2024
• A viral deepfake depicted President Joko Widodo
singing a popular song, rapidly spreading across
social platforms like X and showcasing the swift
dissemination of convincing misinformation.
• A deepfake featured presidential candidate Prabowo
Subianto speaking fluent Arabic, attracting over 1.7
million views on TikTok in three days before its
debunking. Despite being proven false, many
Indonesians still believed its authenticity,
underscoring difficulty of detecting deepfakes.
• A deepfake featured current President Joko Widodo
speaking fluent Chinese Mandarin,
• A deepfake video showing late dictator Soeharto
inviting people to vote for one of the political party,
sparkling debate in public over Historical
Revisionism.

5. 01
03
02
04
The use of big data for
politician candidates
without safeguard.
Difficulties in
distinguishing videos
between genuine and
counterfeit.
Spreading toxic
positivity and historical
revisionism towards
first time voters.
Low awareness and
readiness by the
election body to monitor
and control the use of AI
in election.
Challenges of AI in Elections

6. Existing Ethical Guidelines
vs. Practical Implementation
● The existing Indonesia AI ethical guidelines
(Circular Letter of MOCI Number 9 Year 2023
of AI Ethics) only cover 9 principles:
inclusivity, humanity, safety, accessibility,
transparency, credibility and accountability,
data privacy, sustainable environment and
development, and intellectual property;
● Based on voluntary, not mandatory.
Therefore not providing any sanction toward
misconduct or unethical use of AI;
● The government decide to regulate AI Act by
the end of 2024.

7. Recommendations
● Adding “the risk of AI in elections”;
● Elaborating “the risk of AI in
elections” in a more
straightforward and
comprehensive ways;
● To lower the risk of AI in the use
of synthetic media (deep fakes) in
public domain, it is recommended
that all digital entities or personas
made by AI for commercial use,
education and political purposes
need to be register, in order to
make them accountable and easy
to track who made it, when, and
context (what purposes).

8. Thank you.
Damar Juniarto
PIKAT Demokrasi (Pusat Inovasi Kecerdasan Artifisial dan
Teknologi untuk Demokrasi)
Center of AI and Tech Innovation for Democracy
Founder: Damar Juniarto
Mobile: +628990066000
Email: pikatdemokrasi@proton.me
Twitter: @pikatdemokrasi