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The selection of the Minangkabau, Balinese, and Buginese languages ​​is based on the fact that these three languages ​​are the most widely spoken after Javanese and Sundanese. In addition to considerations regarding their speakers, these three languages ​​were also chosen because they are considered to represent regions in Indonesia.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a key technology driving the global digital revolution. AI offers various new opportunities to overcome existing barriers in human development and social inclusion, and to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), GIZ, together with the Ministry of National Development Planning / National Development Planning Agency of the Republic of Indonesia (Bappenas), implements the Digital Transformation Center and Make-IT Indonesia project to implement the "FAIR Forward - Artificial Intelligence for AI" activities, which aim to create a more open, inclusive, and sustainable approach to AI.

Andianto Haryoko, the Coordinator of the ICT Ecosystem and Utilization, Directorate of Electricity, Telecommunications, and Informatics at Bappenas RI, who is also a member of the National ICT Council Implementation Team, considers language as a national asset, a wealth that must be preserved.

"For the Government, it's not just about improving human resources, it will also become an opportunity to improve the economy," Andi said during the launch of the AI Dataset for Three Regional Languages ​​at the ITB STP Building in Bandung on Monday (4/22/2023).

According to Andi, FAIR Forward also has the potential to increase digital literacy as an important step towards a more inclusive digital transformation to be developed in other regional languages.

"Through this activity, it is hoped that the community and local AI innovators can utilize the available regional language data to build technology that supports the needs related to regional languages," he concluded.

Meanwhile, the Co-Founder of Prosa.AI, Ayu Purwarianti, explained that the selection of these three regional languages ​​is important for data development.

"These three languages ​​were chosen based on the popularity of usage and wide geographical representation in Indonesia. Balinese represents the Bali-Sasak-Sumbawa region, while Minangkabau symbolizes the Malayo-Chamic region in Sumatra, and Buginese represents South Sulawesi," she explained.

Ayu added that within a 48-week period, FAIR Forward successfully achieved the data development target of 10,000,000 words.

"This process involved remote annotators from the local community with diverse dialect backgrounds and occupations, ensuring balanced gender representation. Despite facing challenges such as busyness and external conditions such as power outages, this project successfully overcame various obstacles with satisfying results," Ayu explained. (IN)