Executive Summary.
Artificial Intelligence (‘AI’) offers a once in a lifetime opportunity to elevate Thailand’s position on the global stage. By stimulating economic growth, enhancing the nation’s competitiveness, and unlocking new opportunities for the workforce, AI could resolve Thailand’s most pressing social and economic challenges head on. Thailand must now seize this opportunity, ensuring individuals, businesses and communities are all equipped for the transformation ahead.
The AI Opportunity.
AI is set to be a powerful driver for the next stage of Thailand’s growth. Our research shows AI can:
Boost the economy.
Boost the economy by THB 1.2 trillion (USD 35 billion), a 7% increase in Gross Value Added (GVA), due to a boost in productivity associated with AI adoption.
Attract additional foreign direct investment.
Attract an additional THB 1.7 trillion (USD 47 billion) in foreign direct investment (FDI) over the next decade, as a robust AI ecosystem and modern digital infrastructure make Thailand a more appealing destination for global companies.
Sharpen Thailand’s competitive edge.
Sharpen Thailand’s global competitive edge by cutting the gap between Thailand’s GDP per capita and the OECD average by
within a decade.
AI in Action.
AI is set to tackle Thailand’s most pressing social and economic challenges:
Upskilling the workforce by enabling 11 million people to boost their skills.
While not a direct replacement for teachers or human tutors, AI tutors can complement existing digital learning platforms, and help people learn flexibly and in a more natural way through back-and-forth conversation. By making learning more accessible for all, this could enable 11 million people in Thailand who do not currently have access to an adequate formal education to boost their skills.
Offset 68% of potential labor shortages driven by an ageing population.
The greater use of AI could help offset 68% of potential labour shortages in Thailand driven by an ageing population, by making a smaller workforce more productive.
AI could save 7,400 lives through earlier detection of chronic conditions.
Such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus or hyperlipidaemia.
Improving cybersecurity.
Improving cybersecurity could prevent over 54% of costs from cybersecurity threats and fraud.
Maximising the AI Opportunity.
Realising the full THB 1.2 trillion (USD 35 billion) economic uplift from AI depends on two critical enablers: upskilling the workforce and adopting AI tools across the economy.
Upskill the Thai workforce.
To achieve the productivity gains required to drive such economic growth, we estimate that Thailand will need an extra 19 million workers with basic AI skills, 4.9 million with intermediate skills and 1.3 million with advanced AI skills.1
Accelerate the adoption of digital workflows across Thai businesses.
Businesses currently only spend 3% of IT expenditure on cloud computing, which amounts to only a third of what is spent by businesses in Singapore (10%).2 Closing this gap is vital to unlocking efficiency and driving global competitiveness.