Deputy Minister: Universities Must Strengthen Their Role in AI Era

RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta: The Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology (Kemdiktisaintek) is encouraging universities to strengthen their role as centers for knowledge creation, knowledge dissemination, and human resource development amid the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI).

Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Technology Stella Christie said AI development has brought fundamental changes to various aspects of life, including higher education. Stella made the remarks during the AI Indonesia Initiative Forum at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) on Wednesday, August 26, 2026.

According to Stella, AI's ability to quickly acquire, process, and present information is prompting universities to reassess their primary role in developing people and advancing knowledge.

"The challenge for universities in the future will no longer be limited to how to deliver information or facts to students," Stella said in a statement received in Jakarta on Thursday.

She said universities need to develop people who are capable of creating knowledge while also determining the value and meaning of that knowledge. Stella also called on the academic community to respond critically to the development of AI. According to her, the growing tendency to use AI-based solutions to address various problems needs to be approached carefully so that universities do not merely become technology users.

On the other hand, Stella acknowledged that AI offers significant opportunities in various fields, including research, mathematics, business, and education. However, its use must be accompanied by the ability to determine objectives, assess relevance, and curate the answers generated by AI.

In higher education, Stella said humans remain central to the process of creating knowledge. AI can be used to process information, analyze data, and identify patterns, but humans must retain the ability to ask fundamental questions and generate new knowledge.

In addition to creating knowledge, universities also have a strategic role in disseminating knowledge. This process does not only take place from professors to students, but also among students and from the academic community to society.

"Universities are places where we share knowledge. From professors to students, from students to fellow students, and from students to society," Stella said.

She emphasized that the ability to curate knowledge will become increasingly important in the AI era. As people gain access to vast amounts of information, the ability to select, evaluate, understand context, and determine which information has value will become increasingly strategic.

Stella said universities need to build a critical, reflective, and impact-oriented knowledge ecosystem. AI, she added, should be positioned as a technology that can strengthen education, research, and community service without diminishing the role of humans as the primary decision-makers.

Kemdiktisaintek is encouraging the development of AI to become a momentum for transforming higher education. Universities are expected not only to become technology users, but also to serve as spaces for developing ideas, innovation, and human resources capable of understanding, developing, and determining the direction of technology use for the advancement of knowledge and the benefit of society.