Thailand is entering a critical phase of transformation across its economy, technology landscape, and workforce. As AI becomes a key driver of national and business competitiveness, Thai organizations are increasingly exploring how to apply AI within their operations. The focus, however, is no longer simply on access to technology, but on organizational readiness to translate AI adoption into meaningful impact across people, skills, data, processes, governance, and organizational culture. To address this need, the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI), through the Office of National Higher Education Science Research and Innovation Policy Council (NXPO), in collaboration with AIS Academy and IRIS Consulting, has developed the “Thailand AI Readiness Index” or “TARI,” Thailand’s first AI readiness assessment index for organizations. TARI aims to provide Thai businesses with a practical framework to assess their current capabilities, identify priority areas for improvement, and plan their AI transformation more effectively. The initiative also opens the door for organizations across industries to take part in shaping the assessment framework and contributing to a national benchmarking database, strengthening the readiness of Thai enterprises and supporting the country’s transition toward an AI-driven economy.
Professor Dr. Yodchanan Wongsawat, Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI), said, “AI is not merely a new technology. It is becoming a key factor in shaping the direction of national development across the economy, industry, innovation, and workforce. The ability of Thai organizations to adopt AI effectively will serve as an important mechanism to strengthen the country’s long-term competitiveness. The TARI initiative therefore plays an important role in building a systematic understanding of the current level of AI readiness among Thai organizations. These insights will provide a critical foundation for the government to design targeted policies and support programs that help Thai organizations strengthen their AI readiness and adoption, while enabling the business sector to plan a stable and sustainable transition toward the AI economy.”
Ms. Kantima Lerlertyuttitham, Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Corporate Officer at AIS, said, “Thailand is reaching a critical milestone in its transition toward an AI economy, a shift that is not only changing the way we work, but also redefining the country’s competitiveness. The key question is therefore not whether AI will replace people, but how we can prepare people, organizations, and the nation to use AI to enhance productivity and drive economic growth. However, the challenge many organizations face today is not a lack of technology, but uncertainty over how ready they are, where they should begin, and how AI can be applied to create real business impact. This is a critical question that we must work together to address with urgency.”
“Drawing on AIS’s experience in driving AI transformation within the organization, from building AI literacy and preparing teams to use AI to improve work efficiency, to upskilling employees at all levels and extending AI capabilities into products and services for enterprise customers, we believe that the transition into the AI era must begin with a clear understanding of an organization’s readiness across people, skills, data, work processes, and organizational culture, rather than technology investment alone.”
“Guided by AIS’s core vision of ‘Think Ahead for Thais,’ we look beyond the development of technology and capabilities within our own organization. We also think ahead for the readiness of Thai organizations, Thai people, and the country as a whole. This vision has led to our collaboration with leading partners to develop TARI as a common tool that helps Thai organizations assess their readiness, identify gaps, and define a more effective direction for AI adoption. We believe TARI will become an important mechanism to help Thai organizations and the country move confidently toward the AI economy, at a time when competitiveness is no longer defined by who has more AI, but by who is better prepared to use AI effectively,” Ms. Kantima added.
Dr. Surachai Sathitkunarat, President of the Office of National Higher Education Science Research and Innovation Policy Council (NXPO), said, “One of the key challenges in developing AI policy is the availability of sufficient, reliable data that accurately reflects the current state of Thai organizations. At present, data on AI adoption readiness remains fragmented, making it difficult to gain a systematic overview of readiness across industries. TARI will therefore play an important role in establishing a common assessment framework that enables all sectors to gain a clearer understanding of their level of readiness. NXPO will use the aggregated insights from TARI to analyze and design support measures that align with the specific context of each industry, while ensuring careful data governance to build trust among participating organizations and enable the appropriate use of data for policy development.”
Mr. Boriwat Pinpradab, Chairman at IRIS Consulting, says that “From IRIS’s experience working with organizations across a wide range of industries, we have found that many organizations are committed to advancing AI, but remain uncertain about where to invest first. Should they start by developing people, strengthening data capabilities, or redesigning certain work processes as the first priority? At the same time, some organizations may already have AI projects in place but have yet to clearly connect them to organization-wide impact.
This is why a standardized readiness assessment tool is essential. Before developing a roadmap, organizations must first understand their starting points. The development of TARI is the result of collaboration among the public sector, policymakers, and leading businesses in Thailand to answer a key question: how should Thai organizations assess their AI readiness in a way that reflects reality and enables the results to be applied in practice? For IRIS, we are proud to be part of designing TARI as more than an assessment index, but as a strategic framework that helps Thai organizations see their development direction more clearly and establishes a common language for AI readiness in Thailand going forward.”
Under this collaboration, TARI will act as a mechanism to bring together the public sector, private sector, and industry to establish a systematic standard for AI readiness assessment. The framework is designed to cover assessments at the organizational, functional, and individual levels, reflecting readiness from leadership vision, strategy, and policy to data capabilities, work processes, AI use cases, as well as employees’ knowledge, understanding, and capability to apply AI in practice.
TARI will assess organizational readiness across eight dimensions: 1) AI strategy and leadership, 2) data management, 3) technology and infrastructure, 4) people and AI skills, 5) governance and risk, 6) AI use cases and business value creation, 7) organizational culture and change management, and 8) AI implementation and realized impact. The initiative will be driven through three key stages:
- Measure – Helping organizations gain a comprehensive understanding of their AI readiness, enabling them to identify strengths, gaps, and priority areas for development.
- Benchmark – Enabling organizations to compare their capabilities against industry peers and national benchmarks, helping them prioritize development and investment for maximum impact.
- Activate -Turning assessment results into practical action plans, including workforce development, process improvement, technology adoption, and the creation of an AI ecosystem tailored to each organization’s context.
More than 40 leading organizations across various industries have expressed interest in joining the pioneer group to help develop Thailand’s AI readiness index. The initiative will later expand to SMEs, supply chain businesses, and organizations across different sectors, with a target of at least 5,000 organizations participating in the assessment in the first year and more than 20,000 organizations in the next phase. This will enable Thai businesses at all levels to apply AI to create real value and achieve sustainable growth in the AI economy.
Organizations interested in contributing to the development of the Thailand AI Readiness Index (TARI) can learn more and register their interest at https://thailand-tari.ai, or stay updated through the official communication channels of NXPO, AIS Academy, and IRIS Consulting.