In June 2025, Thailand’s Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI) signed a partnership with Microsoft to launch the THAI Academy, aiming to equip more than one million Thais with AI skills through free online courses and tools. The initiative is tied to the National AI Strategy 2022–2027, which targets training 10 million AI users, 90,000 professionals, and 50,000 developers. More than 60,000 students and 700 pilot schools have participated in AI training programmes under this strategy. The Ministry of Education’s 2025–2026 policy incorporates AI-enabled language learning, lifelong learning platforms, and reduced teacher administrative burden through automation.
Thailand’s National AI Committee, chaired by the Prime Minister, coordinates implementation, and the policy explicitly requires workers to gain not only technical AI skills but ethical AI literacy. Total public and private investment mobilised in support of the strategy amounts to approximately 500 billion baht ($14.3 billion).
Who it affects: Students in the 700 pilot schools; professionals and citizens accessing free THAI Academy courses; workers in sectors targeted by the national AI workforce development plan. The ethics literacy component applies to all participants in the THAI Academy curriculum.
What is notably missing: The THAI Academy is a public-private partnership initiative, not a legislative mandate. Participation is voluntary for workers and the broader public. The National AI Strategy sets ambitious numerical targets but does not create a binding legal obligation for employers to train staff or for schools to implement AI literacy as a guaranteed entitlement. Access inequalities between Bangkok and rural provinces are not addressed by a dedicated equity funding mechanism.