AI Transformative Law: The Urgency and Direction of AI Regulation in Indonesia

Background: Artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in Indonesia has expanded rapidly, while the national legal framework remains fragmented across general laws governing electronic information and personal data, as well as nonbinding ethical guidelines. This regulatory mismatch creates uncertainty regarding AI risk classification, accountability, transparency, and oversight. Objective: This study examines the urgency and direction of AI regulation in Indonesia and evaluates its emerging legal character through the theoretical perspectives of responsive law, progressive law, and transformative law. Methods: This normative juridical study employs a statutory approach to examine primary, secondary, and tertiary legal materials. The materials are analyzed descriptively and qualitatively, using the three legal perspectives as analytical frameworks. The analytical indicators include responsiveness to social needs, human-centered legal change, future-oriented regulatory steering, reliance on technical expertise, and cross-sectoral governance. Results: Indonesia’s two draft presidential regulations on the National AI Roadmap and AI Ethics and Governance constitute an initial framework for cross-sectoral governance rather than a comprehensive and binding legal regime. Their future-oriented targets, reliance on technical expertise, sustainability orientation, and integrated monitoring align most closely with transformative law. Responsive-law elements are evident in regulatory flexibility and attention to sociotechnological needs, whereas progressive-law characteristics remain limited because the approach is incremental and does not fundamentally transform the existing legal paradigm. Conclusion: Indonesia requires binding AI regulation that combines risk-based safeguards, clear accountability, effective oversight, and meaningful public participation. The emerging framework is predominantly transformative, complemented by responsive-law elements, while its progressive dimension requires further strengthening.