Thailand prepares for national AI strategy’s second phase

The development of an artificial intelligence (AI) workforce and the creation of a Thai large language model (ThaiLLM) are among the six proposed flagship projects under the second phase of Thailand's national AI strategy and action plan.

Chai Wutiwiwatchai, deputy chairman of the National AI Policy and Action Plan Steering Committee, said a new National AI Committee is pending appointment by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin and plans to begin implementing the second phase for 2024-27.

An estimated budget of THB1.5 billion ($42 million) is required for these projects, with THB1 billion dedicated to the development of 30,000 AI-skilled workers, including engineers and beginners.

The National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC), secretary of the steering committee, recently held a confidential hearing where details of the proposed projects were shared by associated organisations.

Tiranee Achalakul, president of the Big Data Institute, said Travel Link is the institute's AI project to combine tourism data with AI to recommend tourism attraction, elaborating that they will use generative AI to make a tourism chatbot.

According to Tiranee, Travel Link is expected to help local communities earn more revenue from tourism through the insight of travellers.

Nakarin Amarase, senior vice-president for external affairs at Siam Commercial Bank, said the use of AI to strengthen the fraud detection system is essential to reduce losses from financial fraud.

From March 17, 2023 to Feb 29, 2024, losses from cybercrime totalled THB27 billion ($750 million) from an average of 645 cases per day, he said.

Kobkrit Viriyayudhakorn, president of the AI Entrepreneur Association of Thailand, said ThaiLLM is an important project which is expected to require a budget of THB120 million to create an open source ThaiLLM foundation and chatbots to offer information on health, travel and the environment.

They aim to employ 590 AI workers for the project and encourage the creation of Thai AI startups, reducing both costs and reliance on foreign AI, he added