OpenAI’s warning for Indonesia

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In focus

• What’s lacking in Indonesia’s growing AI ecosystem, according to an OpenAI executive
• The real battleground for Southeast Asia’s AI founders
• Yet another open-source AI model from a Chinese tech giant

Hello reader,

Indonesia has long been one of the world’s most active social media markets. Despite this, the country has not built a breakout global platform of its own.

Could the country avoid a similar fate with AI?

Indonesia is among the top three Asia Pacific countries for ChatGPT usage, pointed out OpenAI chief economist Ronnie Chatterji at last week’s Asia Economic Summit in Jakarta. However, the country still lags when it comes to AI developers.

His message: The region has the users. What it needs now are the builders.

To be fair, this isn’t just about Indonesia. Southeast Asia as a whole is grappling with a shortage of advanced AI talent, fragmented infrastructure, and a heavy reliance on imported tools.

The ecosystem to support local innovation – like homegrown large language models, for example – remains underdeveloped partly because startups don’t see it as a viable business.

Today’s top story explores what the OpenAI executive thinks Indonesia should do to gain more leverage in the time of AI. It also covers his thoughts on how the tech will affect the job market – something his team is actively modeling for countries across the world.

In the race to shape AI’s future, being a heavy user won’t count for much without building anything of your own.

Glenn Kaonang, journalist

The Big Story

OpenAI to Indonesia: Don’t just use ChatGPT – build with it

Ronnie Chatterji, OpenAI’s chief economist, speaking at the first Asia Economic Summit in Jakarta on June 26, 2025 / Photo credit: Tech in Asia

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