Livestream AI: Cuộc chiến giành giật việc làm và rào cản chi phí ở Indonesia

AI livestreaming a hard sell in Indonesia – for now

“Don’t shop from AI live sessions – support the humans who are working hard,” reads a comment on a viral TikTok Indonesia video about the emergence of AI sellers.

The video had amassed 4.7 million views, 153,000 likes, and 4,400 comments, with most of the commenters rejecting the use of AI hosts.

The viral post was a reaction to a live commerce session by an account called Gudangjajan that featured an AI host selling snack products. It was describing a snack’s flavor and sharing details like where products were displayed in TikTok Shop’s catalogue. The AI host could even read and respond to viewer comments in real time.

When a viewer asked the host whether it was AI, it said yes. A slew of comments followed that exchange, urging viewers to skip AI-hosted livestream sessions and avoid buying from them.

It turned out that Avatara Labs, an AI live-commerce enabler based in Indonesia, is behind the Gudangjajan account, and the live session was part of a trial run.

Sofian Hadiwijaya, co-founder and chief technology officer at Avatara Labs, says the live session drew only over 150 viewers. However, he was surprised that so many people reported the session as spam because they disliked having an AI host.

“Eventually, we had to cut the live short because if we continued, the account might have gotten banned,” the CTO tells Tech in Asia. Hadiwijaya notes that Avatara has several trials since December 2024, but this was the first session that got a lot of attention.

While China has gone far ahead and Thailand has started experimenting with AI live commerce, it still looks like a tough sell in Indonesia.

An all-too-familiar clash

The viral video came from creator Bang Ijal, who has 97,000 followers on TikTok. He warned that AI could force human hosts “into early retirement,” and it struck a nerve.

So far, no major brands in Indonesia appear to be using AI hosts, based on Tech in Asia’s observations.

Hadiwijaya says the backlash is understandable, comparing it to the early days of Gojek and Grab, when the ride-hailing apps shook up Indonesia’s streets.

At the time, traditional ride-hailing operators and public transport drivers strongly protested and rejected Gojek and Grab’s presence. To this day, some areas in Jakarta and its surrounding suburbs still ban on-demand drivers from picking up passengers.

But this time, the disruption caused by AI cuts much deeper and feels more life-altering than on-demand services ever did.

Ahmad Fajar has been a live commerce host since 2023. Now, the Jakarta resident is worried as he watches AI avatars enter the game.

“I was surprised to see how advanced AI has become. AI hosts can explain products and even read viewers’ comments,” says Fajar.

Fajar, who typically sells gadgets on TikTok livestreams, admits he’s not ready to consider another line of work.

Another livestreamer, Nurjannah, says the rise of AI hosts has left her feeling uneasy. She admits they have one big advantage: the ability to go live 24/7, something no human can match.

More expensive than humans?

The recent backlash has made some brands in Indonesia cautious about using AI, says Edho Pratama, CEO and co-founder of live-commerce enabler Social Bread.

Tech in Asia reached out to several brands for comment on the matter, but they have yet to reply.

Backlash aside, the real roadblock to AI livestreams in Indonesia is price. Most local players are still piggybacking off heavyweights like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and that tech doesn’t come cheap.

For now, human streamers don’t have to fret as using AI hosts remains more expensive. According to Hadiwijaya, Avatara’s AI host costs 100,000 rupiah an hour. That’s still higher than the average rate for human streamers, which ranges from 80,000 (US$4.90) to 100,000 rupiah (US$6.15) per hour.

“We’re currently in talks with TikTok to get a stream key so we can go live for multiple accounts on a single device,” he says. “That way, the cost can come down even further.”

TikTok Live runs only on PCs, which means five brands using AI hosts need five machines – one for each stream.

Shopee Live is supported only on its mobile app, so companies like Avatara Labs must build an entirely separate tech stack to deploy AI hosts on that platform.

Meanwhile, Pratama says getting started with Social Bread’s AI livestreaming costs 30 million to 50 million rupiah (US$1,840 to US$3,070) upfront, which covers everything from the PC and avatar design to the large language model (LLM), chatbot, and voice-to-video engine.

Avatara is working to bring costs down as no brand has signed on with its AI services so far. The company ran trials with two brands in January, but neither moved forward, Hadiwijaya says.

Both Hadiwijaya and Social Bread’s Pratama believe AI costs will drop sharply over time. ChatGPT, for example, is already much cheaper now than when it first launched.

Avatara estimates that most microbusinesses and SMEs want AI host prices to land between 20,000 and 30,000 rupiah an hour (US$1.20 to US$1.85).

“MSMEs will be massive for our business because it’s a game of quantity,” he says. “So that’s where we’re heading.”

Can human streamers and AI hosts coexist?

For now, Indonesia’s AI live commerce scene is still in its infancy. Besides Avatara and Social Bread, the only other player is AnyMind Group, which launched AnyLive in 2024. The Singapore-based firm also provides AI hosts for livestreaming.

These companies say their goal is to augment – not replace – human live sellers with AI hosts.

Human streamers can prep their audiences, letting them know that the AI host will take over after dark."

Social Bread did a one-month trial of its AI host. The outcome? Human streamers outperformed AI by more than 50% in sales.

But after more testing, the company found its sweet spot: Let humans run the show during prime time – 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., and especially 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. – while AI can handle the graveyard shift, which lasts from midnight to 6 a.m.

“From a cost perspective, the return on investment is best with this combination,” Pratama says. “It’s a cost-efficient formula with the best sales conversion.”

This makes sense if you do the math. Night shifts come with higher streamer fees and steeper operational costs, so swapping in AI for humans helps cut the overhead.

AnyLive pulled a similar move in Thailand, blending human and AI hosts for mineral water brand Evian. The payoff was clear: live commerce sales jumped 3.5x, according to the ecommerce enabler.

A human-AI tag team could also smooth public acceptance, according to industry experts. Human streamers can prep their audiences, letting them know that the AI host will take over after dark. This could make the transition feel less jarring and help viewers become more familiar with AI.

AI livestreaming in Indonesia won’t hit its stride until two things fall into place: Costs drop, and human-AI collaboration becomes the norm.

“The tipping point is when there’s acceptance – when a big brand is willing to try it or a small brand grows because it tries using AI hosts,” says Avatara’s Hadiwijaya.

“We’re waiting for that moment.”

Currency converted from Indonesian rupiah to US dollar: US$1 = 16,294 rupiah.

https://www.techinasia.com/ai-livestreaming-struggles-gain-ground-indonesia

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