Gong Symposium 2024: DF Labs and Kitiran Foundation Help Indonesians Keep Pace With an AI That Moves in Days

Two-Episode Online Series Covers the Foundations of Generative AI, DF Labs' Javanese Language Research, and Practitioner Insights for Indonesia

1 December 2024 – Kitiran Foundation and DF Labs successfully concluded Gong Symposium 2024, a two-episode online series themed "Memahami AI" (Understanding AI) and promoted under the question "AI Bergerak dalam Hitungan Hari: Bagaimana Kita Menyikapinya?" (AI Moves in a Matter of Days: How Should We Respond?). Held on Zoom on two Saturdays, November 23 and 30, 2024, the series drew more than 50 participants, with DF Labs, an Applied AI R&D collective, as implementation partner.

As new models and tools arrive almost weekly, many people feel they are falling behind before they have started. The symposium was designed to give participants one complete perspective across two episodes: first the foundations, then what practitioners are actually doing with AI in Indonesia.

The first episode, "Memahami Landasan Generative AI" (Understanding the Foundations of Generative AI), was led by the DF Labs team. Almer Akbar explained how large language models work and introduced DF Labs' own research. He presented Gatra, an instruction dataset in Javanese, and Bakpia, a language model fine-tuned to respond in Javanese, both built by DF Labs team member Afrizal Hasbi and published openly on Hugging Face. He also shared a DF Labs paper showing that fine-tuning a model on instructions in a low-resource language such as Javanese can make its safety alignment easier to break, a reminder that progress for local languages has to go hand in hand with safety.

Risang Panggalih then covered visual generative AI with a demonstration of image generation using DALL·E, and Fawwaztra Haidar Nurudin covered audio and music generation, demonstrated with Suno.

The second episode, "Wawasan Praktisi & Inisiatif Nyata" (Practitioner Insights and Real Initiatives), turned to practice. Sabrang Mowo Damar Panuluh, Advisor of Kitiran Foundation, described AI as a new brush on the canvas of life: a tool that lets people work more smartly and creatively, as long as they stay responsible for what they make with it. Erik Supit, an AI practitioner, spoke about the challenges of localizing AI for the Indonesian context, and Almer Akbar stressed the importance of cross-sector collaboration in building Indonesia's AI ecosystem.

The symposium closed with DF Labs and Kitiran Foundation announcing a monthly "AI Catch-Up" webinar on new papers, tools and methods in generative AI, and the reactivation of their online discussion community. Both organizations reaffirmed their commitment to helping Indonesians keep pace with AI, not by chasing every release, but by understanding the foundations well enough to judge what matters.

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About DF Labs

DF Labs is an Applied AI R&D studio committed to experimental exploration and analysis of artificial intelligence and its implications in our future. Through workshops, community gatherings, and collaborative research, DF Labs bridges visionaries, creative thinkers, and technical innovators to co-design an AI future that enriches society.

About Kitiran Foundation

Kitiran Foundation is a non-profit initiative dedicated to elevating AI awareness and fostering responsible innovation in Indonesia. By organizing events, producing educational content, and partnering with industry leaders, Kitiran aims to equip individuals and institutions with the knowledge to navigate the AI era confidently.