Lawmaker Flags TH-AI Passport Budget Concerns, Ethics Agreement Gaps
A Democrat lawmaker has raised concerns over budget clarity and ethics violations in the TH-AI Passport project, requesting audits on how "advanced creative-level users" are defined for spending exceeding one billion baht and questioning wh
On September 23, 2025, at parliament, Democrat list-MP and deputy party leader Kaladee Liawpairojn briefed lawmakers on her investigation into the TH-AI Passport project. On September 21, she submitted a letter to the Comptroller General's Department requesting audits on seven spending matters.
Two key issues drew extensive discussion. First, she urged auditors to scrutinize how "advanced creative-level users" are defined, since this definition underpins budget disbursals exceeding one billion baht. Three weeks after launch, the process remains unclear, she said. The amended contract specifies only fixed operational fees and charges for Generative AI services, calculated at 24.70 baht per advanced user per month, but the counting criteria were not clearly defined in the contract.
Kaladee noted the financial stakes are high and called for urgent clarification on how "advanced creative-level users" will be counted to ensure transparency. She stressed she was not alleging fabricated user numbers, since ThaID authentication is already required for platform access; rather, she questioned the definition of what counts as qualifying usage.
Second, she highlighted a timeline problem: the project bypassed ethics agreement procedures. Normally, ethics compliance begins during Terms of Reference drafting. However, according to the timeline, the National Digital Economy and Society Commission received 1.65 billion baht approval on November 12, 2024, requested ethics inclusion on November 18, 2024, and published a draft Terms of Reference on December 15, 2024—before the anti-corruption subcommittee met. On December 17, 2024, that subcommittee rejected the project's inclusion in the ethics agreement, citing procurement that had advanced beyond the Terms of Reference stage.
On December 22, the Comptroller General's Department formally notified the digital commission, yet on December 24, despite rejection, the commission continued promoting the project. Kaladee argued this breach should not be overlooked, noting that the original Terms of Reference section 3.16 explicitly required ethics agreement signatures for contracts worth 1 billion baht or more. She said the commission rushed the project forward without adhering to its own guidelines.
