Exploring AI and Islam in Indonesian Education: An Anthropological Inquiry

Indonesia, as the world's most populous Muslim nation, finds itself at a pivotal juncture in the realm of technological advancement. Recognizing the profound impact of emerging technologies, especially Artificial Intelligence (AI), on its trajectory is of utmost importance. While AI and Islamic beliefs may initially seem distinct, they share a common theme: an orientation toward envisioning future possibilities. Employing a blend of multimodal and mixed research methods, our objective is to scrutinize and draw comparisons between narratives and visual representations of AI's influence on religious prospects, particularly within the higher education landscape of Indonesia. We propose to investigate the curriculum, teaching practices and careers of young AI-professionals at Indonesia's oldest secular state university, namely Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), as well as Indonesia's first Islamic state university, namely Universitas Islamic Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta (UIN-JKT). Notably, both institutions have recently introduced AI programs, making them rare in this regard. In this STEM-focused context, shedding light on the societal implications of AI education within Islam takes on heightened significance, with a focus on challenging Western-centric perspectives and contributing to a decolonization-centered research narrative. As this project is still in its early stages, this short paper will discuss related work and propose future directions to study Indonesia's AI-Islamic-educational future(s).