5 million free AI giveaways "TH-AI Passport"

Give away 5 million free AI rights, "TH-AI Passport," uplift the Thai people, or just a luxury project with a huge budget?

The Thai government, through the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (DES), opened the big game with the "TH-AI Passport" project. It has a budget of over 1,600 million baht. It has allowed 5 million Thais to access the Pro-Generative AI for one year. It aims to upgrade labour skills, reduce disparities, and increase the country's competition in the AI Economy era.

As soon as the news came out, the social voice was clearly divided into two sides.

One side sees "this is the investment of the future."

Instead, the other side questioned, "Is the state taking taxes to buy foreign AI?"

So the key question is not just "Is it good to give away for free?"

But "What will Thailand get back?"

Project Strengths: If done right, more countries than just free AI

In the digital economy, it must be acknowledged that AI today is not a toy, but a "new infrastructure" like the Internet in the past, and the government itself argues that countries with fast access to AI will increase labor productivity and compete better.

The TH-AI Passport is interesting. There are 4 important stories.

1. Reduce the technology rich-poor gap

Pro-level AI currently costs hundreds to thousands of baht per month. Many people, students, freelancers, or SMEs still do not reach it.

According to the government, the average cost of the project falls by about "27 baht per person per month," compared to the application itself, which may exceed 700 to 1,000 baht per month.

If calculated economically, it is considered that the state buys at the wholesale price "to give people the opportunity to use global technology.

2. Increase the effectiveness of Thai workers

AI can help reduce document running time, summarize data, do content, code, analyze data, or actually help small businesses.

If Thais use AI in the right way, the country will have a huge increase in "Productivity," especially in an age when Thailand is entering an aging society, labor is declining, but the burden of the economy is increasing.

3.SME and new finishing children get a chance

Small people may be the most beneficial group because AI reduces the cost of starting a business, such as doing advertising, designing products, translating languages, or building a brand.

For First Jobber, AI could become a "personal assistant" that makes it easier to compete with the global labour market.

4. If the State can collect policy information, it will be of great value.

If this project does not end with the distribution of rights, but stores "what do Thai people do with AI," the state will visualize the country's real workforce skills and enact a Reskill policy more accurately.

Weaknesses and risks: What people worry about is not just statements.

Despite the modern-looking concept, the sound of criticism carries no less weight.

1. Risking becomes "give out and finish."

The biggest problem with the Thai state program is "There are things to give but no people to use."

If most people use AI, just ask for a lottery, compose a picture, or print it, this project will become just an "expensive Subscription" without increasing the country's GDP.

AI does not create value itself.

"People who use AI" create value.

2. Buy foreign AI, but Thailand does not have technology.

Many parties question whether Thai tax money is flowing out to foreign companies because the main AI models are also foreign, such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude.

If the state buys only the license but does not develop its own AI Infrastructure, the country could become a "forever tenant of technology."

3. Transparency is also questioned

Despite DES insisting it uses an e-bidding and verifiable system, opposition parties and many parties also noted TOR, project acceleration, and the clarity of the beneficiaries.

The question that society needs answers is

Choose which AI with what criteria?

Who holds the People's Information?

Is there a monopoly?

Where is the leak protection system?

Can the public verify the results?

4. Thai people also have low "AI Literacy."

The real problem may not be "no AI," but "don't know how to use it."

Thailand has only 10.7% lower access to AI than many countries in ASEAN, according to the government.

This means that even free distribution, many people may not use it or abuse it.

And the project is "worth it?"

The answer is "worth it" if the state looks beyond giving away rights.

But it's "not worth it immediately" if the project ends with a beautiful registration.

The success of the TH-AI Passport is not measured by the number of people applying.

But measured from that

Do Thai people make more money?

Are SME grown up?

How fast does Thai workers work?

Can a country build its own AI Ecosystem?

How to make this project really worthwhile?

1. Give away AI must give away "knowledge" in tandem.

There should be free national courses, e.g.

AI for online vendors

AI for farmers

AI for students

AI for civil service

AI for SME

Not just give Login and finish.

2. Economic results must be measured.

States should open public Dashboards, e.g.

How many people actually use

Which side is most used?

How much revenue is raised?

How much to reduce the cost?

If people see the results, they will reduce the cost of melting the river.

3. Use this project to create Thai AI

The most important thing is that Thailand is not just an "AI user."

The state should be capped to

Thai model

Thai Database

AI public sector

Open Dataset

Startup AI Thailand

To build their own industry in the long run.

4. Transparent all steps

A 1.6 billion project must be exposed to inspection.

Both TOR, bid winner, price, KPI contract terms and actual results.

Because this era, the people are not afraid of the "investment state."

But fear "the state is invested and unproductive."

Conclusion

TH-AI Passport is a "right-thinking" project, but it also needs to be proven "practical."

If managed well, Thailand could keep pace with the AI world and raise the largest level of labor in decades.

But if there is lack of measurement, lack of training and lack of transparency,

It may be remembered as "an AI billion giveaway project that people don't use."

Lastly, AI will not change the country on its own.

But people who use AI can change the future of the country.

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