With generative AI now embedded in every aspect of industry and daily life, what should universities be preparing students for?
At a plenary session of the NUS Innovation Forum (NIF) Jakarta, panellists weighed in on a critical question facing higher education today: “What do you see as the most significant opportunities and challenges that AI presents to universities in Southeast Asia?”
Held on 24 October 2025 at the Pullman Jakarta Indonesia Thamrin CBD, NIF Jakarta was organised by NUS Alumni Relations to bring alumni, thought leaders and industry experts together for in-depth discussions on emerging innovation trends. The event marked the seventh NIF since the series was launched in 2024 and the first held in Indonesia, underscoring the University’s deepening engagement with its global alumni.
UNIVERSITIES IN THE AGE OF AI
The Rectors’ Panel — featuring Professor Hamdi Muluk from Universitas Indonesia, Dr Danang Sri Hadmoko of Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Professor Lavi Rizki Zuhal of Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) and NUS President Professor Tan Eng Chye (Science ’85) — tackled the harder, underlying issue: what is the purpose of a university when machines can already perform so many tasks that academics once thought are exclusive to humans? Moderated by Professor Simon Chesterman, NUS Vice Provost (Educational Innovation) and Dean of NUS College, the discussion went beyond technological disruption to examine the future of learning itself.
Early in the discussion, Prof Tan spoke candidly about the “tremendous opportunities and risks” presented by AI. To illustrate the speed and scale of change, he pointed to DeepMind’s breakthrough in protein folding, which modelled more than 200 million proteins in a single sweep — a feat that would otherwise have required “more than a billion PhD-years”.
Such leaps, he noted, show just how dramatically AI can supercharge scientific discovery. They also reveal how quickly universities must adapt. At NUS alone, 134 faculty members were hired over the past two years; 27 are AI specialists, and another 53 incorporate AI into their research. “It shows how pervasive AI has become, transforming all disciplines” he said.
Yet he also warned of a quieter academic danger: students using AI to avoid thinking rather than deepening their cognitive skills. He highlighted four risks — cognitive offloading, never-skilling, mis-skilling and de-skilling — that universities must actively guard against. “Learning must remain effortful,” he said. “AI cannot replace the process of thinking.”
From the Indonesian institutions came a shared recognition that AI is not just a technological development but a philosophical shift. Prof Zuhal believes that current trends demand a rethink of curriculum design. ITB has already overhauled its programmes with the aim of preparing students to work alongside intelligent systems. “We cannot keep teaching the way we were taught,” he said. Many lecturers, he acknowledged, still resist AI because “they think their own brains still function”. But he added that that doesn’t take away a fundamental truth: that educators need to be skilled in AI, simply because students are.
Dr Hadmoko emphasised the need for applied, cross-disciplinary research—particularly at the intersection of human behaviour and technology. UGM is increasingly pairing computer scientists with experts from diverse domains such as psychology, engineering, medicine, pharmacy, and the social sciences. This approach ensures that AI tools are not only technically robust, applicable across sectors, and responsive to real stakeholder needs, but also socially grounded. He also highlighted an important structural reality: AI research is inherently expensive. Cloud-computing costs alone can exceed the annual operating budgets of some faculties, and very few universities in the region can independently sustain large-scale modelling efforts. Consequently, multi-stakeholder collaboration is no longer optional but essential. Dr Hadmoko stressed that shared supercomputing infrastructure, joint research clusters, and industry-supported innovation centres are becoming critical pillars for advancing AI research and ensuring equitable access to computational power.
Prof Muluk reminded the room that AI will not only mirror humanity’s strengths, but also its vulnerabilities. He cited real cases of young people seeking emotional support from AI systems —sometimes with tragic consequences when models hallucinate, misjudge intent or offer unsafe advice. His message was clear: offline life still matters, as does physical interaction. Universities, he stressed, must invest as seriously in human resilience as they do in digital infrastructure. Community-building, peer-support systems, service learning and mental-health programmes are not peripheral — they are essential safeguards in an era where digital companionship can feel deceptively comforting. “We must equip students with wisdom,” he said. “And wisdom is not something AI can provide.”
THE BUSINESS OF INNOVATION
Later in the Forum, discussions widened beyond universities to the broader startup and corporate ecosystem. A second session – themed ‘Ask Me Anything: Building Impactful Start-ups in an Uncertain World in the Age of AI’ – featured start-up founders in biotech, media tech and the industrial Internet of Things, offering a candid look at what it takes to build resilient companies in an age of rapid technological change.
Speakers Mr Adi Reza Nugroho of MYCL, Mr David Setiawan Suwarto (Business ’09) of SCTV and MOJI, Mr Pang Xue Kai (Engineering ’15) of ForU AI, and moderator Mr Danial Talib of PIER71™, shared practical insights on navigating uncertainty, earning user trust, and using AI to accelerate — not replace — human creativity and problem-solving.
NUS Enterprise also highlighted its expanding regional presence through its BLOCK71 network, now spanning 11 cities — including Jakarta, Bandung and Yogyakarta — and connecting founders to mentors, investors and international markets.
Taken together, the conversations at NIF Jakarta reflected a region that is not simply adapting to technological change but actively shaping it. It built on earlier stops in Manila, San Francisco, Suzhou, Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo, each shaped around the question of how innovation can drive economic and social progress across regions.
