As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms industries worldwide, a Google product manager is advocating for a human-centered approach to its development and implementation. Juan Anugraha djuwadi, speaking during a January 14 webinar, emphasized the critical need for contextual relevance and user experience as AI scales globally and increasingly impacts everyday life.His insights offer a key perspective for Indonesia and the broader Asia-Pacific region as thay navigate the opportunities and challenges of this evolving technology.
NERACA
Jakarta – A Google product manager is helping to shape the future of artificial intelligence, emphasizing the importance of user experience and contextual relevance as AI adoption accelerates globally. Juan Anugraha Djuwadi, based at Google in the United States, is playing a key role in ensuring AI innovation remains human-centered and widely impactful.
Djuwadi shared his insights during a January 14 webinar, “AI Streamline Your Business: Build Internal Apps with AI,” discussing the direction of AI development, the challenges of cross-market adoption, and principles for building globally scalable products. His perspective offers valuable guidance for governments, businesses, and the digital ecosystem across Indonesia and the Asia-Pacific region.
According to Djuwadi, the advancement of AI shouldn’t get lost in technical complexity. “Users don’t care how sophisticated the technology is behind the scenes. They care whether the solution is useful and solves a real problem,” said the Columbia University alumnus, who holds a Master of Arts in Design and Development of Digital Games, Game and Interactive Media Design. This principle is foundational to Google’s product development, serving billions of users with varying levels of digital literacy and cultural backgrounds.
Djuwadi highlighted two key philosophies for policymakers and enterprises: “less is more” and “the details matter.” He explained that even a one percent failure rate translates to millions of impacted users at scale. “When one percent of users experience difficulty, that means millions of people. That’s where details become strategically important, not just technical,” he stated. This is particularly relevant for governments and state-owned enterprises building national-scale digital systems, including AI-powered public services.
When it comes to decision-making, Djuwadi positions data and intuition as complementary pillars. While data serves as a compass for optimization – improving efficiency, performance, and accuracy – significant breakthroughs often stem from intuition and product vision. “Data validates the present, intuition defines the future,” he said. This approach is crucial for regulators and businesses in the rapidly evolving AI landscape, enabling them to be proactive rather than simply reactive.
Trust is a central concern in deploying AI across different countries. Djuwadi believes impactful AI solutions must be built with a deep understanding of local contexts, cultures, and user expectations. Google, he noted, relies on collaboration between global and local teams to ensure innovation is relevant, rather than uniform. This approach offers a key lesson for Indonesia and the broader APAC region, where diverse social and economic factors demand a contextual and ethical approach to AI.
Regarding Indonesia specifically, Djuwadi sees significant potential alongside structural challenges. Unlike the mature software adoption and monetization market in the United States, Indonesia is still transitioning. However, he predicts that as the digital ecosystem matures, concerns around data privacy, AI ethics, and system accountability will sharply increase – issues that are now at the forefront of the global agenda.
Djuwadi, who previously held positions at Niantic, Scopely, Activision, and Electronic Arts, projects a fundamental shift in the technology landscape over the next five years. The democratization of AI will drive the creation of on-the-fly software, generated in real-time to meet specific user needs. This change is expected to fundamentally alter how governments, businesses, and industries design services, including text- and voice-based interfaces.
Drawing on his experience across technology, entertainment, and global digital platforms, Djuwadi emphasized that Indonesian talent on the world stage is not merely symbolic, but a strategic contributor to shaping AI that is impactful, ethical, and human-oriented.
