Key Takeaways
- Thailand’s Electronic Transactions Development Agency has drafted comprehensive AI governance principles.
- The framework’s core tenets include protection from unforeseeable AI errors, equal legal validity for AI-assisted contracts and decisions, clear attribution of AI outputs (with full liability for developers and users) and guaranteed rights to notification, explanation, and appeal in high-risk AI situations.
Thailand’s Approach to Governing Artificial Intelligence
Thailand is moving to formalise its approach to artificial intelligence with a new set of draft principles designed to guide the development, deployment, and oversight of AI across both public and private sectors.
Spearheaded by a Thai governmental agency, the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA), the proposed framework put forward by the ETDA details the core risk-management requirements, ethical guardrails, data-protection standards and transparency measures aimed at fostering a safe, trustworthy AI ecosystem and accelerating responsible adoption across the country by all types of business.
Since the sharing the proposed framework with industry stakeholders, academic experts, consumer groups and civil-society organisations, the framework was recently made available during an online public hearing, which gained various feedback on the draft provisions within the framework.
The ETDA is now consolidating those insights into a final bill, which it plans to submit to the Thai Cabinet for consideration by the end of July 2025.
If the guidelines are indeed approved, subsequent regulations will be enacted that will provide financial service providers, tech companies and government bodies in Thailand with clear rules for leveraging AI in ways that balance innovation with accountability.
Foundational Principles
The framework drafted by the ETDA establishes some foundational principles to legislate Thailand’s approach to AI, including:
Protection from Unforeseen AI Actions
If an AI system produces an unexpected error, omission or decision that no one could reasonably have foreseen from taking place, neither individuals nor businesses should be held to its unintended consequences, so long as the other party knew (or should have known) about the AI’s potential for such unpredictable behaviour.
Non-discrimination Activities
As AI tools become part of our everyday life, any contract, ruling, or legal document created by an AI system, or even just reviewed, by an AI system should carry the exact same force and validity as one drafted entirely by humans. Simply put, you cannot strip a deal of its legal power just because an algorithm helped create it.
Right to Notification, Explanation and Appeal
Proposed safeguards would provide individuals with the right to understand how AI systems are built and to appeal any decisions made by such technology, which may require human oversight.
These rights, being considered for the utilisation of high-risk AI systems, include the right to be notified when AI is involved in decision-making, to receive an explanation of why it came to a decision, and to contest the outcome.
How Can WSR Law Help Your Business to Employ AI Tools?
As seasoned commercial and legal advisors with extensive experience assisting both local and international companies in Thailand with their AI, cybersecurity, and data protection-related strategic priorities, we are ideally positioned to offer tailored support to your company on all your technological ambitions.
From SMEs to large, multinationals, WSR Law assists all types of companies that are looking to employ AI systems within their day-to-day operations.
Reach out to the team at WSR Law today for a complimentary discussion about how we can help you employ your AI systems in Thailand.
