What Do Indonesians Really Need from Language Technology? A Nationwide Survey

TL;DR

This paper presents a nationwide survey of Indonesian native speakers to identify their actual needs from language technology, emphasizing the importance of translation and retrieval tools while addressing privacy and bias concerns.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive assessment of Indonesian language communities' needs, guiding future NLP development and policy considerations.

Findings

Language barriers are the top priority for Indonesian speakers.

Strong enthusiasm exists for NLP advancements in Indonesia.

Privacy and bias concerns impact AI adoption.

Abstract

There is an emerging effort to develop NLP for Indonesias 700+ local languages, but progress remains costly due to the need for direct engagement with native speakers. However, it is unclear what these language communities truly need from language technology. To address this, we conduct a nationwide survey to assess the actual needs of native speakers in Indonesia. Our findings indicate that addressing language barriers, particularly through machine translation and information retrieval, is the most critical priority. Although there is strong enthusiasm for advancements in language technology, concerns around privacy, bias, and the use of public data for AI training highlight the need for greater transparency and clear communication to support broader AI adoption.