Thais Lead World in AI Optimism, Push Digital Skills
Thai people lead the world in AI optimism, with 66.8% confident the technology will benefit their lives—more than double the OECD average—while businesses rank highly in digital infrastructure and cybersecurity.
Thailand's Board of Digital Economy (BDE) Secretary-General Wetang Puangsap unveiled findings from the 2025 Thailand Digital Outlook survey, revealing that Thai attitudes and digital skills are trending positively and stand out compared to other countries in several areas. The survey found that 66.80% of Thai people are confident AI will have a positive impact on their lives and work—the highest rate among 23 OECD member countries. This is more than double the OECD average of 28.60%.
Thais are already adopting AI in daily life and work at a rate of 31.56%, with the most popular skills of interest being software applications (37.82%) and text-based prompting (33.86%). Thai businesses are well-positioned to compete globally, with 94.05% having high-speed internet access—ranking second among OECD members—65.42% using paid cloud services (9th among 40 countries), and 57.42% implementing strong cybersecurity measures (3rd among 28 countries).
On internet access and usage, 93.20% of Thai households have internet connectivity, predominantly through mobile phones at 97.06%. Online shopping through e-marketplaces is the main channel at 85.9%, with average spending of 435.83 baht per transaction. The top three product categories are consumer goods (29.27%), clothing and footwear (24.55%), and cosmetics (14.68%). Platform trustworthiness is the primary factor in online purchase decisions (64.26%), while data security and payment system concerns remain barriers for non-online shoppers.
The Thailand Digital Outlook project, running since 2019, tracks Thailand's digital development indicators using the OECD's Going Digital Toolkit framework. The 2025 survey collected 102 indicators across eight dimensions, gathering data from over 46,810 respondents nationwide.
