Rano Karno Reveals AI Risks in Rimba Raya Serial Production

Kapanlagi.com - Rano Karno, Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta, candidly discussed the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the production process of the Rimba Raya series produced by Karnos Visual Magic. He admitted to starting to learn about this technology from scratch after attending a forum in Bali that predicted the world would be overwhelmed by AI in the next six years.

"So I learned. I want to know what AI really is. Although many creators say that AI becomes a handicap," said Rano Karno when met in Karang Tengah, South Jakarta, Saturday (15/8/2026).

"Many jobs are completely cut off by AI. But AI is a technology that we cannot deny will run rampant," he continued.

1. Learning AI After the Forum in Bali

Rano Karno shared that his involvement began when he was invited to speak at a forum in Bali. From there, he gained insight into the acceleration of AI adoption that is expected to impact various sectors in the next six years.

Upon returning from the forum, Rano chose to dive in directly. He decided to study how AI works to understand its impact on the creative process, from production flow to its influence on job types in the content industry.

He made this statement in Karang Tengah, South Jakarta, on Saturday (15/8/2026). On that occasion, Rano emphasized that the learning process he undertook aimed to ensure that creative decisions in the Rimba Raya project remain rooted in the needs of the story and local context.

2. AI Incorrectly Presents Indonesia's Forests

Rano Karno (credit: KapanLagi.com/Fikri Alfi Rosyadi)

On the ground, significant challenges arose when the team began to utilize AI for visual needs. Instead of producing landscapes that were appropriate, the system generated the Amazon rainforest when the team needed references for Indonesia's forests.

Rano assessed that this discrepancy occurred because representations of Indonesia's forests were not available in the database referenced by global AI models. This condition caused production needs to be stalled, especially when the visuals required needed to be contextually accurate geographically.

"This forest is not an Indonesian forest. This is the Amazon rainforest. I want an Indonesian forest. It turns out that from the AI available in the world, there are no Indonesian forests. What exists are African forests, the Amazon. How do we ensure there are? We have to create it," said Rano.

3. Building the Karnos Visual Magic AI Engine

A similar issue occurred when the team was searching for elements of Indonesian culture. Items such as batik, blangkon, and konde did not appear as needed because they were not available in the AI database they accessed.

To address this gap, the team then developed their own system which they called the AI Engine. This initiative was aimed at creating visual assets that represent Indonesia and Asia, so that production needs could be met without going through the biases of global datasets.

"So now we have what’s it called? AI Engine. So Karnos Visual Magic has an AI Engine. For what? We create techniques or images of Asia. Because if we search for batik in the existing AI, it’s not there," explained Rano.

4. Prompt Costs Become a Gamble

In addition to visual accuracy, costs also pose a challenge. According to Rano, mistakes made when entering commands or prompts directly impact the cost of using AI services, which cannot be refunded.

"So this means 'Oh', I said it turns out this AI, if we make a mistake in the prompt, it can’t be discarded anymore. Once we prompt it, the credit has already been consumed," Rano stated.

Rimba Raya is produced by Karnos Visual Magic in collaboration with Vidio and Artha Graha Peduli. This series is scheduled to premiere exclusively on Vidio starting Monday, August 17, 2026, with a total of 10 episodes to be released one per month.

(kpl/far/pit)