{"id":375618,"date":"2026-04-12T07:40:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T07:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/375618\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T07:40:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T07:40:12","slug":"indonesias-first-fully-ai-animated-show-legenda-bertuah-gets-mixed-reaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/375618\/","title":{"rendered":"Indonesia’s first fully AI-animated show Legenda Bertuah gets mixed reaction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Baca artikelnya dalam bahasa Indonesia<\/a><\/p>\n

An evil giant thrashes his arms as brown waves of mud swallow the angry beast and he disappears beneath the surface.<\/p>\n

At first glance, the creature from Javanese folktale the Legend of Timun Mas looks like a character designed by animators.<\/p>\n

A closer inspection reveals telltale signs that this giant has been created using generative artificial intelligence (AI).<\/p>\n

At one point the giant’s eyes look in the wrong direction.<\/p>\n

As the giant fights a young girl, battle sequence frames jump around and look disjointed.<\/p>\n

The scenes are from an episode of Legenda Bertuah, the first television series in Indonesia to use AI to fully animate a show.<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

Legenda Bertuah premiered in January and 14 half-hour-long episodes have since been aired on free-to-air television.<\/p>\n

While other countries including China have already made fully AI-generated television shows, the Legenda Bertuah series is a milestone for Indonesia and viewers’ reactions have been mixed.<\/p>\n

Each episode, which can also be streamed from the website for the company behind the series TRANS7, tells a different Indonesian folktale.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Legenda Bertuah tells the stories of Indonesian folktales. (Instagram: @legendabertuah.trans7)<\/p>\n

“It’s really cool, quite refreshing and insightful, and it helps gen Z and gen alpha kids learn more about Indonesian legends,” wrote a viewer on social media.<\/p>\n

Another audience member described the show as a “quality AI TV show”.<\/p>\n

Other audience members were unimpressed with the AI-generated human characters.<\/p>\n

“The expressions and tone sound very stiff, it’s obvious that it’s AI. That’s one of AI’s weaknesses: human performance can’t be replaced by AI,” said a viewer on social media.<\/p>\n

Another person said the creation was “messed up”.<\/p>\n

“Does this country really lack animators? Are you that broke that you can’t hire animators or graduates in animation or illustration to tell these folktales?” they wrote.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Prompt engineers use AI platforms to generate the animated images for the series.\u00a0 (ABC News: Raffa Athallah)<\/p>\n

TRANS7 spokesperson Mira Khairunnisa denied the main reason they chose to use AI was to save money.<\/p>\n

“Producing [a TV program] with AI is not that cheap. We didn’t create it to be cost-effective or anything like that,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We see it as a new tool that can be developed in our content production.”<\/p>\n

It took the company one month to make one episode, Ms Khairunnisa explained.<\/p>\n

About 10 people work on the show.<\/p>\n

“It’s just a tool. AI can’t work on its own. It still needs humans behind it,” said Ms Khairunnisa.<\/p>\n

“It’s not eliminating jobs, but instead, creating new ones \u2026 so there’s nothing to worry about.”<\/p>\n

Prompt engineers elicit videos\"Two<\/p>\n

At least 10 people worked together to create the first series of Legenda Bertuah. (ABC News: Raffa Athallah)<\/p>\n

The process of making each episode starts with story-boarding, agreeing on images, scripting, and video editing, which was all done by humans, explained Ms Khairunnisa.<\/p>\n

The company also employs prompt engineers, who come from different job backgrounds such as camera operators and IT professionals, who give directions to generative AI to create the animation.<\/p>\n

The engineers first prompt ChatGPT to generate still images for each scene, which serve as visual guides to keep the animation consistent.<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

TRANS7 spokesperson Mira Khairunnisa says the show aims to introduce audiences to folktales. (ABC News: Raffa Athallah)<\/p>\n

Those stills are then animated into video using Google Veo.<\/p>\n

The producers finally edit the AI videos to fix sound, colours and lighting.<\/p>\n

Ms Khairunnisa said the producers also consulted experts on the folktales to make sure the scripting and visual interpretation were accurate.<\/p>\n

“So it can be properly justified, whether it’s the facts, the story, or the authenticity of the background, wardrobe, and everything shown on screen,” she said.<\/p>\n

Dermawan Syamsuddin, from the Indonesian Animation Industry Association, disputed that the videos generated by AI could actually be called animation.<\/p>\n

He said the movements and acting of the characters were “exaggerated”.<\/p>\n

“From a visual category perspective, this is not animated content because it does not use an animation style in its presentation, such as a cartoony look, which is a global hallmark of animation,” he said.<\/p>\n

‘Are they simply products of an industry?’\"A<\/p>\n

Actor and director Satriaddin Maharinga (right) says AI prompts ethical questions for creative industries. (Supplied: Satriaddin Maharinga)<\/p>\n

Satriaddin Maharinga, a director, actor and film writer also known as Arie Kriting, said the new series had raised concerns in the creative industry and prompted ethical questions.<\/p>\n

Maharinga said he believed AI had been used to make the Legenda Bertuah series to save money.<\/p>\n

He pointed out that animation was a specialised skill and there were professional animators who had spent many years working in the field to develop their craft.<\/p>\n

There is no data in Indonesia about how many jobs might be lost or gained thanks to AI being used in this sector.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A prompt engineer at work at TRANS7. (ABC News: Raffa Athallah)<\/p>\n

As an artist, Maharinga said the series demonstrated that the implications of AI should be clearly defined before it is used.<\/p>\n

“Especially since it [the use of AI] has become a major concern among artists and creative workers, I feel it’s better to at least not rush into using it, until its ethical positioning is clearly understood and established,” he said.<\/p>\n

Maharinga said he used AI to help find writing inspiration and simplify his script writing process.<\/p>\n

“Some people feel that it may harm the creative process, because the creative thinking doesn’t come from them,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Others see it simply as a tool that provide help.”<\/p>\n

But as an artist, he questioned how AI content should be viewed and attributed.<\/p>\n

“AI has no soul, right? It has no feelings, no independent will, and no creative agency of its own,” he said.<\/p>\n

“So, the question then becomes, ‘Are the shows we enjoy still works of art, or are they simply products of an industry?'”<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Franklin Darmadi says at this stage he is not comfortable with making films entirely with AI.\u00a0 (ABC News: Raffa Athallah)<\/p>\n

Franklin Darmadi, movie director and Wokcop Pictures chief executive, told the ABC that AI was helpful, but “not everything can 100 per cent be replaced with AI”.<\/p>\n

“I think [filmmaking] still requires human touch,” he said.<\/p>\n

Darmadi, who is currently producing a family drama movie, said he had used AI to quickly find general information and for small tasks like removing unwanted objects from the background of a shot.<\/p>\n

“I think AI can be cost saving, but it really depends on the project,” he said.\"Two<\/p>\n

Franklin Darmadi (left) says AI is not yet able to capture human “micro\u2011expressions”. (ABC News: Raffa Athallah)<\/p>\n

He said he still did not feel comfortable making the main visuals of his films entirely AI\u2011based.<\/p>\n

“There are AI applications that can produce very refined results, but when I look at current technology, I still feel that it’s not truly human as it hasn’t been able to capture micro\u2011expressions yet, and also lacks the spontaneity and unpredictability that humans naturally have.”<\/p>\n

Irvan Satya Prana, research deputy at the Indonesian Animation Industry Association (AINAKI), said animation and design jobs were already being impacted by AI.<\/p>\n

“My students, alumni, and people in the community have told me that it’s much harder to find work today and there have been many lay-offs,” he said.<\/p>\n

He said artists were transitioning their skills in this new era.<\/p>\n

“We’re still preparing ourselves and adapting. I’m confident that we will overcome this transition,” he said.<\/p>\n

Regulating AI ‘tricky’\"A<\/p>\n

Arif Perdana says regulating AI is a balancing act.\u00a0 (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Indonesia has a national AI strategy, known as Stranas KA, which includes ethics and policies but is not a legally binding document.<\/p>\n

The government has also signalled it may revise the country’s copyright legislation to capture AI-generated content, which would include regulations to protect artists.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

There has been an ongoing conversation about AI among artists in Indonesia. (ABC News: Mitchell Woolnough)<\/p>\n

Arif Perdana, associate professor of digital strategy and data science at Monash University Indonesia, said regulating AI was “tricky”.<\/p>\n

“If a law is too strict, it risks stifling innovation. But if it’s too weak or too lenient, it can be dangerous for the public,” he said.<\/p>\n

“There needs to be a balance.”<\/p>\n

Grok blocked in Indonesia and Malaysia as UK launches probe<\/a><\/p>\n

The AI platform championed by Elon Musk has come under significant criticism in recent weeks for its production of non-consensual images.<\/p>\n

Mr Perdana described Indonesia’s regulations as “decent”.<\/p>\n

Even though the government was still figuring out the transition period, Mr Prana from the association said it was important to have specific regulations to protect artists.<\/p>\n

“Specific policies are urgently needed, very urgently,” he said.<\/p>\n

“If this continues as is, we don’t know how long adaptation will take, and it could easily become chaotic.”<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Indonesia’s Ministry of Creative Economy said the government was speeding up work to move from “moral” guidelines to “regulations with legally binding force”.<\/p>\n

“[This is] to minimise the risk of efficiency gains leading to mass lay-offs and to ensure fair remuneration standards for creators whose work intersects with the AI-based digital ecosystem,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

“AI should be used as a tool, not a replacement for humans, so that key creative decisions remain in human hands.”<\/p>\n

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