Thailand promotes AI application

Bangkok - The Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry of Thailand has outlined its “quick wins AI & cloud policy” to promote artificial intelligence (AI) adoption and support domestic AI technology providers.

The policy has targets of 100 days, six months, and one year, which will be implemented by the ministry’s Digital Economy Promotion Agency (DEPA). According to DES Minister Prasert Jantararuangtong, the policy is one of the six strategies the ministry assigned to DEPA for its 2024 operations.

DEPA President and Chief Executive Nuttapon Nimmanphatcharin said the 100-day policy includes the adjustment of Board of Investment (BoI) measures to attract AI and cloud technology importers through proper incentives.

For the six-month policy, DEPA will enhance the AI ecosystem by building an AI district in the Thailand Digital Valley (TDV) in the Eastern Economic Corridor and will set guidelines for the establishment of a co-investment fund for AI development.

The department also aims to increase the number of start-ups which provide AI software-as-a-service from the current 10 to more than 20. It also wants to see at least 50 local start-ups using AI tech intensively.

For the one-year target, it plans to attract foreign AI importers to invest and register as juristic persons in the country, while aiming to increase the number of major AI tech providers in Thailand from two to four, said Nuttapon.

Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health has announced that its Health Insurance for Non-Thai People (Hint) system will debut on January 1, 2024, allowing stateless and non-Thai people to get access to healthcare coverage.

Vice Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Tran Quang Phuong hosted a reception in Hanoi on December 28 for a delegation of Thailand’s Udon Thani Rajabhat University led by its President Assoc. Prof. Dr. Khanisara Thansunthornsakun.