Thailand has substantial AI potential.
According to the Tortoise Global AI Index, Thailand is competitively placed in Southeast Asia – doing well on commercial activity, government strategy and citizen trust. However, to fully unlock the AI opportunity, Thailand needs more highly skilled human capital and to invest further in key infrastructure.25 In the following pages, we take a closer look at what Thailand can do to strengthen such foundations and realise the full economic and social value of AI.
Tortoise AI Global Index: Scores for each pillar in Thailand
Scores in each pillar are out of 100. For context, where Thailand scores 45/100 on Government Strategy, Singapore scores 59 and Indonesia scores 19.
Upskill the Thai workforce.
At the moment, Thailand has a relatively low skills base to realise the full potential of AI. To fully take advantage of the potential of AI, 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.26
Without this investment in skills, Thailand risks missing out on the productivity gains that underpin its AI opportunity. Closing this gap is critical to realising the projected THB 1.2 trillion (USD 35 billion) boost to the economy outlined above, especially in sectors facing workforce shortages and the broader challenges they bring.
Fortunately, there is a palpable interest to learn new AI skills among Thai workers. 86% of workers in Thailand said they would be interested in skills training to help them to better take advantage of AI. More specifically:
of workers said they wanted to better understand how AI models worked.
of workers would like to know more practical use cases of how to use AI.
of workers would like to know how they can best prompt AI models to get the most out of them.
This level of enthusiasm presents a unique window of opportunity. With the right training infrastructure, Thailand can quickly mobilise its workforce to adopt and apply AI, accelerating national competitiveness.
Google Gemini is creating a new generation of innovative teachers.
Dr. Supanee Sengsrī, a professor at the Faculty of Education of Naresuan University in Phitsanulok, has dedicated her career to modernising teacher training in Thailand. She observed that many future educators felt confined by outdated teaching methods that no longer meet the needs of today’s diverse learners. To help break that cycle, she began introducing Google Gemini into her curriculum.
By using Gemini, her students are now able to design personalised lesson plans tailored to different learning levels, from elementary to high school. Dr. Supanee also uses the tool herself to adapt content for specialised groups, such as military educators. More importantly, she encourages her trainees to explore and develop their own teaching styles and approaches – using Gemini as a tool to support that experimentation. She has seen a clear transformation. New educators are moving away from rigid methods, creating more engaging, flexible classrooms that better reflect the needs of
today’s students.
“Ever since Gemini was introduced, more young educators are challenging traditional methods and creating personalised, engaging learning experiences. From generating tailored content to designing classroom materials, Gemini is shaping a new generation of innovative teachers.”
Dr. Supanee Sengsri
Professor at Naresuan University
Accelerate the adoption of digital workflows.
Realising the benefits of AI will also need continued investment in connectivity and data centre infrastructure to support demand. In the last decade, computational needs have risen by a factor of 55 million and LLM training data use has been increasing by 50% each year.27
Yet Thailand still underinvests in the infrastructure needed to scale AI. Estimates suggest that Thailand spends just 3% of its IT expenditure on cloud computing. This is slightly below the SEA average of 3.7% and substantially below countries like Singapore, that spend more than 10%.28
To keep pace with other markets, Thai businesses will need support to be able to fully adopt digital workflows. Without scalable digital infrastructure, Thai businesses will struggle to adopt AI tools or process the large datasets AI models depend on.
This matters because digital readiness is a core pre-condition for unlocking Thailand’s AI-driven growth. A strong cloud and data ecosystem not only supports business productivity but is also a key factor in attracting investment. Accelerating cloud adoption and infrastructure build-out will be critical to capturing the projected THB 1.7 trillion (USD 47 billion) in additional FDI over the coming decade.