Thailand wants to be a regional artificial intelligence (AI) training centre to support developing countries' adoption of AI ethics rules by collaborating with the UN agency Unesco.
The Thai government plans to push for cabinet approval of the AI governance framework for public agencies, embracing AI to resolve obstacles in healthcare expenses, agriculture, education, energy and finance, said the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA).
"AI represents the second era of digital transformation. It has more benefits than risks. However, it should be carefully used with responsible governance," said Sak Segkhoonthod, senior advisor of the AI Governance Clinic (AIGC) at ETDA, on Tuesday at a seminar on AI governance.
There are some risks and constraints to embracing AI, particularly generative AI (GenAI), such as bias, sensitive ethical contexts, and issues of privacy, security and copyright.
Organisations can apply GenAI with proper governance by establishing an AI governance structure. This includes defining an AI strategy, managing risks, overseeing AI operations, and considering the use of AI tools from vendors who have terms and conditions and policies to support AI governance and ethics, said Mr Sak.
The Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation Ministry and the Education Ministry are cooperating with Unesco to jointly host the first Asia-Pacific international conference dubbed the "Unesco Global Forum for the Ethics of AI 2025" next year in Bangkok.
The event, with a theme of Ethical Governance of AI in Motion, will take place from June 24-27. It is aimed to reinforce Thailand's readiness to take a leading role in driving the ethics and governance of AI implementation on a global scale.
"Thailand wants to collaborate with Unesco to establish the AI training centre to help developing countries in the region embrace AI in sustainable way," Mr Sak said.
In addition, ETDA will present its AI governance guidelines for executives to the cabinet to assist the public sector.
ETDA also recently introduced GenAI governance guidelines for organisations to foster a comprehensive understanding of GenAI technology in all dimensions.
Mr Sak said Thailand is yet to have an AI law as the technology is dynamic and could impact the ecosystem if over-regulated. However, there are many governance guidelines in place for the public and private sectors.
In certain sectors, such as healthcare, the relevant regulators are considering introducing specific regulations for AI.
Existing laws can also be applied to AI. For example, in the case of privacy violations the authorities can refer to personal data protection law, intellectual property law or computer crime law.
Mr Sak cited the "AI Readiness Measurement 2024" survey on the readiness to adopt AI for digital services. The survey indicates that this year, the proportion of Thai organisations that have already implemented AI has increased to 17.8%, up from 15.2% in 2023.
Some 73.3% of organisations are planning to adopt AI in the future. The top three industries most prepared to implement AI are education, finance and commerce, and logistics and transport.
Although the adoption of AI in organisations is growing, only 16.5% of organisations have already integrated AI ethics into their operations.
Meanwhile, 43.7% are beginning to consider how to incorporate AI ethics.
Rojana Lamlert, advisor and team leader of the AIGC at ETDA, said that next year the world is expected to place increasing importance on the ethical use and governance of AI. Many countries are starting to recognise the opportunities and impacts, as well as the risks across various dimensions, arising from the use of GenAI.