Transcript of the above video: 

It has been in the headlines a lot lately the TH-AI passport. I have been kind of ambivalent about making a video about it but then the more I read about it, yeah, I need to make one for a variety different reasons. First of all, what's the thumbnail? The thumbnail is from a clip, from one of the best comedy specials I think I've ever watched. It's with Dennis Miller where he is talking about the deficit; it's just a great little sketch, and at one point he said, "I don't even know what it is" and I thought of that the minute I was reading about this whole thing because I don't know what this TH-AI passport is even supposed to be. From my observance thus far, it looks to me like a giant boondoggle that is really not going to get much of anything for anybody other than a bunch of money gets moved around which then makes me reminisce back to the old Digital Wallet that nobody really wanted, voted for; it was all downsides with a bunch of public debt thrown into the mix. That said, I didn't know really what it was; I started looking into it and I'm starting to question whether it is the right thing for Thailand. 

Now to be clear, I don't love making these videos where I'm overly critical of the current Government. I've made my sort of thoughts known. I rather like Anutin. I have liked the thrust of the Bhumjaithai Party overall but things like the OECD and this AI stuff, it gives me the willies because I don't know what, what is it, that's sort of the point of the thumbnail. So let's jump in here.

I thought of making this video after reading a recent posting on X from Thai Enquirer, that's @ThaiEnquirer on X, quoting directly: Opposition MP warns TH-AI Passport Could Enable Surveillance of Users. The Government's 1.6 (I think billion) baht TH-AI Passport project could enable authorities to track citizens' AI usage and collect data from up to five million users, a People's Party list-MP warned. Isriya Paireepairit said the system would act as an intermediary between users and foreign AI providers, allowing the operator to process all user prompts and AI generated responses." That is my first question. What does that even mean? Again, I go back to Dennis Miller, "I don't even know what it is". I don't even know what we are getting because apparently, they are going to spend a bunch of public money on this and 5 million Thais are supposed to start using it, for what? And then on top of it in using it there are huge holes where they are going to have a bunch of their personal data taken from them. Let me just keep going here. Quoting further: "While the project's terms require user data to be stored in Thailand and protected from foreign access" - well we have seen even things stored in Thailand not be foolproof safe. Quoting further: "Isriya questioned whether sufficient safeguards exist to prevent access by state agencies. He noted that Digital Economy and Society Ministry officials had previously said the data could be used to train Thai AI models." Train them for what? I mean this is sort of my issue with it. That said, I sort of Googled but what is this thing? Because I still don't even know what this TH-AI passport is supposed to do for any of us; which took me over to: Thailand's TH-AI passport explained, and how it compares with National AI Programmes Worldwide. This is from MCG-asia.com, quoting directly: "Thailand is preparing to give" - 'give' - note the term 'give'. I'll get back to that in a moment. - "Thailand is preparing to give 5 million citizens a year of free access to premium AI tools through a 1,621 million Baht program" - so that's 1.62 billion Baht; we are going to pay for this to get "free things" out of it, but taxpayers are paying for it so why is it only free for a year? And who is getting the money after the year, and why is taxpayer money going toward it, if we are not getting the money back? And who is getting the money back? Quoting further: "Called the TH-AI passport, now one of the most debated technology policies in the country." Well it's not even a matter of debate, it's about, like what Dennis Miller said, I don't even know what it is? What is this thing that we are going to be spending 1.6 billion baht on, that's going to track all of the 5 million users’ data? For what? What does it do? That's been the thing with all of this AI talk is every time you drill down with anybody on AI, “well it models and learns from other AI and becomes an even more powerful AI." It's starting to remind me of that episode of Rick and Morty where they got really into the Voltrons and they just kept building bigger and bigger and more and more Voltrons; they had like a super mega-Voltron, but It ultimately came to nothing. It was just kind of like a giant Ponzi because all they were doing was building an extra-large Voltron. It's like the same thing here. "Well it's an AI; it’s going to be AI and it's going to talk to other AIs and become more AI. It's just platitudinous; it's like the self-licking platitudinous ice cream cone. That said, quoting further: "This analysis is built from the tender document itself, the e-bidding announcement and the full terms of reference, together with Government statements, Parliamentary records and Thai Press reporting. It explains what the programme is" - so they say we've got this explanation, but then they never explain it. So within the thing that is supposed to be telling you what this is, it's not telling you what this is.

All of this is red flags for me. It shows me that at least there's an argument that there's not a lot of substance to this, and there is a lot of money being spent, and there's a lot of downside that the public may use this thing to their detriment. Does this sound like anything we particularly need to spend a billion and a half baht on? Maybe reasonable people can disagree, I don't know. But when I hear this, and I want to read this again: "This analysis is built from the tender document itself." So what they said in the beginning, what this thing was, so that's double hearsay as we would call it in America evidence, where it's like well it's just them saying what it is twice. Quoting further: "E-bidding announcement and the full terms of reference." - So when they were bidding on this project, then they said what they were going to be doing; it's again just them saying what it is;  the people that want to make money on this presumably - "together with government statements" - again, the people that are proponents of it. - "parliamentary records and Thai press reporting. It explains what the program is, how it came to be, how it works and why it is contested, and then sets it against the national AI programs of Malta, the UAE, Singapore, Estonia, Vietnam, India and Sweden to ask what separates the programs that build lasting capability from those that mostly spend." Huh? What does that even mean? So all of us Ponzi schemes got together and talked about the most efficient way to be less like a Ponzi scheme amongst us being Ponzi schemes? That is what it sounds like to me.

Quoting further: "The Essentials. The TH-AI Passport is a program of Thailand's Ministry of Digital Economy and Society" - first of all, why do we have that? I remember when they created it. I don't want a digital economy; I just want an economy, and the Ministry of Finance can deal with matters pertaining to economics in Thailand. Why do we need this special Ministry to focus on "digital" economy? Because they want to create this entirely separate thing that they can control all our lives with financially and drag us up and down through the volatility of whatever their nonsense narratives are of the day? We learned in the '90s, although I wasn't here but I've learned through reading and things, that it was the real economy that saved Thailand, not the digital financialized platformed economy that was brought in from the outside. No. It was the real economy in Thailand that dragged Thailand out of that, and it was paying off all of those loans and things, to get rid of that outside foreign undue influence that got Thailand on down the road as a successfully, economically, vibrant jurisdiction. And again, it then begs the question what's the need for a "Digital Economy Ministry", when we sort of know that the digital economy is not the optimal economy all things considered - Quoting further: "implemented by the Office of the National Digital Economy and Society Commission." So now we have a Ministry for Digital Economy and Society as well as an Office of the National Digital Economy and Society Commission? There are two things going there. I mean that seems redundant, but let's keep going. "It offers 5 million Thais aged 15 and over free access to premium generative-AI tools for one year." First off, what does "premium generated AI tools" actually mean? What does that mean? I don't understand what that means. We have those things out in the world. Gemini, Grok, ChatGPT - I'm not really seeing first of all where all this great value creation is coming from that. 

But then at the same time, the state is going to spend one and a half billion baht, but the people are only going to get access to this for a year? What happens after that? They have got to pay for it? And if so, how much? And why is the state creating what will ultimately end up being a private enterprise? And why is it creating it with public funds and possibly exposing the public to problems from leaked information. Also, the other thing is, and I'll get to this even more but I want to put a fine point on this, they have twice noted that it's free. What do we know from Big Tech in the last 25 years? If you're not paying for it, you are the product. They're harvesting all of these people and their information and their data. That's what's going to come from it I wouldn't have any problem with that if it was Private Enterprise and they could get folks to use it - they got 5 million users to use it - and they gain certain data and certain advantages in terms of computing power in the future thereby, if it was a private enterprise. But we are going to be on the hook for one and a half billion Baht as taxpayers for this lovely luxury of being the AI's guinea pigs; don't sound like a real winner to me. - “The contract is worth 1,621 million Baht" - so 1.62 billion Baht - "funded by the Digital Economy and Society Development Fund rather than the annual budget." Well that would be my next question. There aren't other things that 1.6 billion baht to go be spent on? How about just paying down the debt we've already gone up over 60% debt to GDP ratio? It is really not a good idea for us to go over, and we are better off when the government isn't out spending all this money on boondoggles that may hurt us. Quoting further: "The tender e-bidding number 6/2569 was announced on 24 December 2025 with bids due on 27 January 2026, and was won by the TH Consortium of Turnkey Communications Services PCL and Human Intelligence Co. Ltd."  So 2 private companies bid on this, so they are going to get that one and a half billion baht, but then my question is after the initial free option for a year, what if people become used to using this? Then they have to use it. That is another problem - the tyranny of convenience. You get used to using this stuff, and then it becomes a paid model, but your tax dollars went to you getting addicted to the thing, and then having to pay for it down the line? How is that helping? 

That said, quoting further: "The terms of reference require a minimum of eight Pro or Premium AI products at least two of them ranked in the global top five on recognized benchmarks." What does any of that mean? What does that mean? What is 8 Pro or Premium AI products? What is a Pro or Premium AI product? What is that? How is that defined? Meanwhile, two of them ranked in the global top five on recognized benchmarks. Ranked by whom? And what's a recognized benchmark? The last time I ever heard benchmark in the context of anything having to do with Thailand, it was when some Deputy Governor of Bangkok was talking about this like going on 10 years ago now, was talking that they were “benchmarking” Singapore is what they were going for here in Bangkok. And I remember thinking at the time, find another bench! I want to live in Thailand; I want to live in Bangkok. I didn't move to Singapore. I also didn't move to some country that's going to be taken over by the AI-Borg because, oh there's going to be 'Pro and Premium AI products' - whatever that means - and it's only going to work if it's Global top five on recognized benchmarks. The metrics don't even have any substance to them. Quoting further: "Public registration was planned for June 2026 and the program is now under Ministerial review following Parliamentary and public criticism."

Well, my thinking is maybe let's put this one away for now; it may not be a terrible idea. I don't know the ins and outs of it but it doesn't look like from anything that I've researched - and I've done some deep drilling on this - as to what exactly is going to be garnered from this, and it looks to me like the public is just going to spend 1.6 billion baht, to be able to use some computer thing for a year for free and then thereafter they are going to have to pay for it, and we don't even exactly know what this computer thing is going to be. To my mind I would like to see a little bit more, I don't know, explanation as to what we are actually going to get and frankly, I would like to know why exactly it is imperative for Thailand at this time, when we have other very serious expenses and there is also a global economic catastrophe unfolding in terms of the fact that oil prices and things and energy costs are going to go up, is this really the time to invest in something that we don't even know what it is, but we do know that there are substantial downsides associated with it?