Indonesia is introducing a golden visa scheme to attract foreign individual and corporate investors in an attempt to boost its national economy.

OpenAI founder Sam Altman became the first person to receive Indonesia’s golden visa. But which part of his sterling resume – which includes being a former Y Combinator president and an ex-CEO of Reddit – makes him particularly attractive for Indonesia? The American entrepreneur is expected to help grow the artificial intelligence ecosystem in Indonesia.

It is clear that the Indonesian government needed someone of Altman’s caliber to launch the golden visa with a bang, especially to draw the attention of other high-net-worth individuals.

The golden visa shows Altman’s willingness to help Indonesia nurture its AI talent. Hammam Riza, president of Korika, told CNN Indonesia that while a partnership with Altman is still in the works, one possible program is to develop a GPT-4 large language model for Indonesian as well as Indonesia’s regional languages, such as Javanese and Sundanese. Korika is a government-linked organization that facilitates AI research and innovation in Indonesia. Hartanto added that localization is critical to produce more AI engineers, build more use cases on top of OpenAI, as well as align government policies on AI. He hopes to see OpenAI launch a research center in Indonesia, while securing developer partnerships with local startups.

In June, Altman spoke at an event in Jakarta organized by Korika. Altman visits the town of Ubud on the island of Bali every year. He plans on regular visits to Indonesia in the future.

“There are several categories of golden visas apart from those based on investment/capital investment, one of which is the golden visa which is given to figures who have an international reputation and can provide benefits for Indonesia,” Silmy Karim, Indonesia’s director general of immigration, said. “With this golden visa, the hope is that Altman can contribute towards the development and use of AI in Indonesia.”

The five-year visa requires individual investors to set up a company worth $2.5 million. For the 10-year visa, a $5 million investment is required. Other countries around the world including the U.S., Ireland, New Zealand and Spain have introduced similar golden visas for investors, seeking to attract capital and entrepreneurial residents. Meanwhile, corporate investors are required to invest $25 million to get five-year visas for directors and commissioners. They need to invest $50 million to gain a 10-year visa.

Different provisions apply to individual foreign investors who do not want to establish a company in Indonesia. The requirements range from $350,000 to $700,000 in funds that can be used to purchase the Indonesian government bonds.

“Once they arrive in Indonesia, golden visa holders no longer need to apply for permission to enter the island nation,” Silmy Karim said.

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