Corporations are urged to embrace a sustainable intelligence paradigm empowered by artificial intelligence (AI) to deal with the changing industry landscape.
Speaking at a seminar hosted by Prachachat Turakij newspaper, Suphachai Chearavanont, chief executive of Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group, said six fundamental challenges and transformations will take place globally between 2023 and 2030.
These encompass inclusive capital, digital transformation such as smart industry and cybercrime, climate change, the political polarisation of the global economy, consumer behaviour such as e-commerce and cryptocurrency adoption, and human welfare including the silver economy, according to McKinsey and the World Economic Forum.
Moreover, the World Bank and Unicef highlight four essential requisites for fostering equality: quality education, financial accessibility, connectivity and access to computing technology, and availability of life insurance.
In terms of inequality, there are 1.7 billion unbanked people and 2 billion students who don't have a computer, said Mr Suphachai.
He said a sustainable intelligence society embedded with AI technology requires digital literacy, a proper mindset and ethical values.
The International Monetary Fund predicts Thailand's GDP is expected to rise 2.7% this year, compared with 6.5% growth for India and 4.2% for Asean.
Mr Suphachai said average GDP in Asean countries between 2023 and 2024 was higher than the average GDP globally. However, anticipated GDP growth for Thailand of 2.7% for 2024 is the lowest rate among Asean countries.
In terms of competitiveness rankings, Thailand was ranked 35th last year among 64 countries, up from 40th in 2022.
This new era is being driven by AI, which requires ethical literacy to prevent spam and cybercrime, he said.
In terms of manpower, the country needs skilled digital workers to handle the AI tech-driven era, comprising around 10% of the total workforce in the country, or around 5 million people, said Mr Suphachai.
Thailand has around 40,000 IT-related graduates per year.
He said policymakers should add computer science to the curriculum for schools to increase the number of students with computer skills, paving the way to enhance their capabilities in high-skilled or deep-tech literacy in the future.
Thailand has high potential as a hub in several sectors such as food security, tech, smart cities, logistics, trade and finance, said Mr Suphachai.
Arthid Nanthawithaya, chief executive of SCB X, a financial technology conglomerate and holding company of Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), said amid evolving landscapes both locally and globally, business transformation is to be continued.
He cited SCB X's business transformation programme in which the company has divided its operations into two distinct groups: the incumbent business, housed under SCB, and the startup ventures operating under SCB X.
These businesses are further categorised into three generations based on their operational dynamics.
According to Mr Arthid, for the incumbent business, also known as the "cash cow", the company will maintain its current operations by leveraging its longstanding expertise, market strength and established business scale.
For startups, he said SCB X's startup ventures benefit from a lack of business legacy but face the disadvantage of not having a cash cow portfolio.
Consequently, they are tasked with driving innovation and exploring new opportunities, capabilities and business models within a data-driven framework led by AI, he said.