Indonesia’s 19 December 2023 ministerial circular outlines AI ethics principles for identified businesses and electronic system operators. A circular’s guidance should be read alongside separate binding privacy and sector rules.
What the document is
Circular No. 9 of 2023 is recorded by the government legal repository. It describes the intended scope as AI programming, analysis and consultation activities and addresses certain public and private electronic system operators.
Principles versus specific sanctions
The document lists values including inclusivity, humanity, security, accessibility, transparency, accountability, personal-data protection, sustainability and intellectual-property respect. These principles help shape policy, but do not independently prove that every AI use has a particular statutory penalty.
Turn the principles into tests
For transparency, explain when a user is interacting with automation. For accessibility, test assistive input and language choices. For accountability, identify the employee empowered to halt erroneous outcomes. Link each practical action to your risk assessment.
Treat data protection separately
Review the personal data protection law and sector requirements before using personal records for model development. Keep vendor training reuse, data localization and international disclosure claims separate from the ethics circular.
A reproducible record
Store the original Indonesian legal text, internal AI risk checklist, impacted-user assessment, test outcomes and owner approvals. Translate terminology carefully; machine translation of binding law should not substitute for an authoritative interpretation.
Correct framing
Describe this as Indonesia-specific ministerial ethics guidance and verify any later binding enactments independently. A business can follow stronger safeguards voluntarily without presenting them as universally mandated duties.
Sources & Further Reading
- Indonesia Ministerial Circular No. 9/2023 on AI ethics — Indonesia Ministry of Communications legal repository.
- NIST AI Risk Management Framework — National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Jurisdiction/scope: Indonesia. This is educational information and does not constitute legal or other professional advice. No hands-on product test is claimed.