The Thai Government and Microsoft are collaborating to push the THAI Academy programme, with the objective of giving Thai individuals artificial intelligence (AI) expertise and knowledge. The programme, with assistance from over 35 public and private sector organizations spearheaded by the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, aims to empower over 1 million Thais by 2025.
To the public sector, the programme will work with the Office of the Civil Service Commission and the Digital Government Development Agency (DGA) to create AI skills for more than 100,000 Thai civil servants, and co-organise the 'GovAI Hackathon' event with the DGA, which is open to government officials from all government agencies to exchange ideas on how to leverage AI to serve Thailand.
The Ministry of Labour's Department of Skill Development is cooperating with Microsoft to train 2,000 civil servants and lecturers who subsequently will assist in boosting AI skills among Thai workers and job seekers across the country with over 100,000 individuals.
Simultaneously, the National Cyber Security Agency (NCSA) is conducting cybersecurity skills training for more than 300 NCSA staff and officials from organisations that are responsible for critical information infrastructure, and AI and cybersecurity skills training for more than 10,000 students.
Further, the programme is working in collaboration with the Ministry of Education to create AI skills for 4,500 teachers, transferring knowledge and awareness to more than 400,000 students across the country.
Meanwhile, the programme is collaborating with the Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology and the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre to incorporate content from Microsoft's AI Basics curriculum into the AI Literacy curriculum, or AI knowledge and awareness, under the project to promote the teaching of AI and contemporary technology in schools, which focuses on students in grades 4 to 6.
The program is also assisting in developing AI capabilities for students via the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, targeting technology students to produce new generation developers, securing the AI workforce in Thailand with more than 50,000 skilled professionals.
Microsoft is also collaborating with 20 universities in Thailand to reskill staff, incorporate AI content into learning management systems, and create micro-credential systems to facilitate flexible, self-paced learning paths.
Concerning the private sector, Microsoft is collaborating with Thailand's Digital Economy and Society Council of Thailand, Federation of Thai Industries, LiVE Exchange, Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand, and Thai Chamber of Commerce to support more than 20,000 SMEs to leverage AI.
