Many Indonesian Middle Class Believe AI Can Help Make Work More Efficient

Katadata Insight Center (KIC) released the Katadata Indonesia Middle Class Insight (KIMCI) report at the IDE Katadata Future Forum 2026 event at the Ballroom of the Djakarta Theater, Jakarta, Wednesday (15/4/2026).

The KIMCI report contains research findings on the condition, behavior, and perceptions of the middle class, which can serve as a basis for formulating strategies and policies to strengthen resilience, drive growth, and support economic and social development in Indonesia.

One of the topics studied is the middle class's perception of artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

KIC found that the majority, or 61.4% of the middle class, believe AI can help make their work faster and more efficient.

"Most respondents use it to support productivity, from searching for information, learning new skills, to completing professional work," KIC said in its report.

However, there are also some middle class people who believe AI could threaten human jobs or make people overly dependent on machines.

Here are the details of the middle class's perceptions of the impact of AI use, according to KIC's survey:

• AI helps make work faster and more efficient: 61.4% of respondents
• AI makes life more practical-from shopping, learning, to entertainment: 57.1%
• AI as an opportunity for future careers and businesses: 41.8%
• AI can eliminate human creativity: 39.1%
• AI can make people overly dependent on machines: 37.7%
• AI can threaten human jobs: 31.2%
• AI is indeed advanced, but sometimes it feels "too fast" and hard to keep up with: 28.9%
• Others: 1.1%

KIC conducted this survey from the fourth quarter of 2025 to the first quarter of 2026 on 1,000 middle class respondents.

The respondents are aged between 18-60 years with a spending range of Rp2 million to Rp10 million per capita per month, referring to the definition of the middle class from the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS).

The full report of Katadata Indonesia Middle Class Insight (KIMCI) from KIC can be downloaded at this link.