Democrat Official Warns AI Passport Program Lags Behind
Thailand's AI Passport program is outdated and underperforming compared to free market alternatives, a Democrat Party official warned, calling for restructuring to better serve different user groups and stronger data protection oversight.
On September 5, Kaladee Lieopairojn, deputy leader of the Democrat Party, addressed concerns about Thailand's data centre and AI Passport programmes. Regarding the data centre, she called for the addition of an economics committee member to oversee core qualifications, emphasizing that Thailand must look beyond immediate investment gains and consider long-term economic positioning and data sovereignty. She stressed that foreign investors must operate under clear legal frameworks, as Thailand currently lacks comprehensive data protection laws.
On the AI Passport initiative, Lieopairojn offered academic criticism rather than political opinion, stating the model appears significantly outdated. After testing it herself, she found it inadequate and warned that shallow, top-down approaches risk creating backward skills rather than genuine competence. She argued there is nothing free about state-funded programmes built from taxpayer money and noted that current usage quotas are too low compared to free market alternatives offering 20-50 transactions daily.
She recommended restructuring the programme to serve different user groups—such as SMEs and students—rather than treating all five million users equally. On data governance, she called for stronger assurances that national ID numbers will not be exploited for private gain. She also urged scrutiny of future digital platform conditions, particularly rules requiring companies to hold 3-5 million citizen records, which could lead to market monopolies. She concluded by urging transparent governance disclosure and clear success metrics.
