"Karn Dee" leads the team to reveal vulnerabilities in "TH-AI Passport," calling for a review of the directionless Signature Project and preparing to submit a letter to "Chaiyachonok" fearing the country will incur a costly new loss due to this initiative.
On 20 Jul 2026 GMT+7 at the Parliament, Dr. Karn Dee Liao Phairoj, party-list MP and deputy leader of the Democrat Party, who is an expert in technology and innovation, held a panel discussion and press Q&A session to analyze the features and operation of the AI system in the "TH-AI Passport" project. The event involved in-depth discussion with experts and academics from the digital sector, moderated by Worapot Tharasirisakul, Director of the Thailand Future Design Institute.
Dr. Karn Dee stated her position and urged the government to review and cancel the TH-AI Passport project, which uses a budget of 1.6 billion baht from the fund. She highlighted numerous vulnerabilities that may severely misallocate taxpayers' money. Although the project is currently revising contract annex details to switch payment to a Pay per active user model—which appears better than the initial bulk payment—detailed analysis reveals major risks. The definition of Active User can be easily manipulated: a citizen logging in once a month or receiving a system notification prompting entry counts as usage. This purely quantitative measure lacks genuine KPIs to assess quality or the value of upskilling/reskilling citizens.
Dr. Karn Dee expressed three main concerns:
1. Suspicions in the procurement process, including indications of specification locking, a matter closely monitored by the opposition. Although the government claims compliance with all regulations, concerns about transparency remain.
2. The inefficiency of the 1.6 billion baht spending: examination of expense details for registration and satisfaction measurement systems shows several items priced abnormally high. Technology experts unanimously describe the project as overpriced to the point of state plundering and inefficient use of the digital fund. Meanwhile, Thailand already has better free platforms or government projects like OKMD that cost just over 2 million baht. Why should the government pay billions for an inferior system instead of leveraging and expanding existing resources?
3. Data security and sovereignty concerns: the Terms of Reference lack clarity on whether all data will be processed within Thailand. This represents the highest risk to national security and AI sovereignty, with no robust government plan in place to address it.
"I do not understand how the country's leaders can let this project proceed. Budget resources are limited, yet they invest in a so-called Signature Project that is unnecessary. I do not want this 1.6 billion baht to become an expensive lesson or a new costly mistake for Thailand—money spent on a project that only functions for a year and then disappears, bringing no benefit to the country or its people. If leaders truly understand these risks, they must halt and reconsider the project for long-term benefit," Dr. Karn Dee said. She confirmed she will formally submit a complaint to Minister Chaiyachonok Chidchob of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, urging use of his authority to stop the project and protect national interests.
Meanwhile, Associate Professor Dr. Thanachat Numnon, director of the IMC Institute and a digital expert, offered an academic perspective: AI technology has advanced greatly, evolving from chatbots to co-pilots or assistants, and in some cases can summarize documents or create videos replacing human work, prompting people to urgently upskill and reskill. The use of general free models can suffice if properly matched to the task.
Associate Professor Dr. Thanachat candidly critiqued the "AI-Pass" prototype in the TH-AI Passport project, stating it should at least match the free versions available. Testing revealed issues: AI-Pass cannot upload large files, whereas free versions like ChatGPT handle this well. For example, AI-Pass can upload only three files for creating presentation slides, while ChatGPT allows over ten. If AI-Pass only offers basic lifestyle functions, it cannot truly support upskilling or reskilling citizens. He suggested the AI model in this project must at minimum have features equal to free models, such as uploading large documents for slide creation, downloading documents in various formats, and analyzing audio or video data.
Dr. Pitchapep Prateepawanich, founder of Bangkok AI Builder Hub, commented on Thailand’s AI situation and context, noting the country has great AI potential. Unfortunately, the massive 1.6 billion baht budget used in the TH-AI Passport project by the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society dissipates on providing free AI access to citizens and vague KPI targets, rather than developing Thailand’s AI capabilities, ecosystem, and seriously supporting local startups. Although the TOR mentions enhancing citizen capabilities, the government should convert this budget into concrete, tangible development, utilizing resources appropriately and efficiently beyond the current state.