Drama over the application "Thailand FishAI" which analyzes fish photos. After several users tried it, issues were found with inaccurate fish species identification. Recently, the Department of Fisheries provided clarifications and welcomed all feedback to improve the app's effectiveness.
On 2 May 2026, the "Department of Fisheries" launched the mobile application Thailand FishAI, which uses AI to preliminarily identify aquatic animals and aquatic plants from the Department's big data of over 2,000 species, using smartphone photos. The app also includes functions for participatory fishery resource surveys and conservation, expert species verification, reporting new fish discoveries, and more—all in one application.
However, reports emerged that many users found the AI system's preliminary identifications to be quite inaccurate. Some photos that were not fish were still analyzed as certain fish species. Images circulated widely showing users' attempts to identify species, such as someone photographing shrimp but the app identifying it as mackerel.
Recently, the Department of Fisheries' official Facebook page issued a statement regarding these issues, expressing gratitude for everyone's interest in downloading Thailand FishAI and explaining that the app is a research and development prototype AI system completed within a short period of just one year. It is a prototype that includes AI-based fish species identification functions.
Initially, the app can identify 50 species (it cannot identify all fish species yet). Each species requires extensive photographic data collected from field surveys, covering various sizes and multiple angles, to train the AI system to recognize that particular fish. For each species, more than 100 to 1,000 photos are needed, depending on the fish's distinctive features.
Most of the identifiable species at this stage are freshwater fish in the Cyprinidae family, which is the most diverse fish family in Thailand. This includes common species and rare endemic species such as White Barb, Golden Barb, Gray Mullet, Redfin Barb, various Rasbora species, Siamese Algae Eater, Bleeding Heart Tetra, White Cloud Mountain Minnow, Zebra Danio, Freshwater Moonfish, and others, as well as rare Thai species like the Giant Featherback, Giant Catfish, and Thai Giant Barb. This supports freshwater fish resource surveys and preliminary research objectives of the project.
The app can also identify some ornamental fish species such as Guppy, Carp, Goldfish, Betta, Pompadour, Malawi Cichlid, Cardinal Tetra, and some exotic species. It can preliminarily identify economic fish species like Mackerel, Grouper, and Nile Tilapia. The Department of Fisheries is actively developing the database to increase the number of identifiable species, which requires time and collaboration from various sectors to enhance the app's effectiveness for public service.
Additionally, Thailand FishAI features a "Library" section, a digital aquatic species library with information on over 2,000 species from the Department’s database, including freshwater fish, marine fish, ornamental fish, other aquatic animals, and over 300 aquatic plant species. These are categorized for convenient and fast public access. The app also includes a "Survey" function to assist users uncertain about fish species by allowing them to submit photos and details directly to Department experts through the app, who then respond with notifications. The submitted photos help improve the app's aquatic species database.
If users encounter issues with the app or find inaccuracies in AI results, or have suggestions, they can contact the Department of Fisheries via the “Survey” menu or join the Open Chat by searching for “Thailand Fish AI” or by clicking the link below.Click)
The Department of Fisheries welcomes all feedback to develop the Thailand FishAI app for full efficiency and sincerely apologizes for any inconvenience caused.
Thank you to the Department of Fisheries’ Public Relations Facebook page for the information.