Amid unchallenged Big Tech narratives and widespread techno-optimism in Indonesia, Automation Fever attempts to provide a deeper reflection on the risks and impacts of automation tools on society that are often glossed over by companies and policy makers.
With the unchecked deployment of these automation tools, power is progressively concentrated in the hands of a few, surveillance is heightened, and more private data is extracted. The promised “benefits”—touted as worthy tradeoffs for such risks—are defined by those who would get financial returns by the adoption of these tools, and are very rarely questioned from a variety of perspectives.
In Indonesia, predatory tech development usually stems from the government's incompetence and corruption, the tech companies who take advantage of the corrupted system, the non-tech companies chasing bottom lines, and the general public's ignorance.
This reporting project aims to show how these actors interact and intersect with each other in key areas: public service, culture, the media, labor, and regulation, while highlighting how the overemphasis on technical solutions often add more problems than it can solve.
