Thailand at intelligence crossroads

As the United States and China pour vast investments into artificial intelligence, we stand on the brink of a power shift more profound than the atomic age—one where machines, not humans, may soon drive the pace of progress.

- Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai

On the horizon is Artificial General Intelligence or AGI, where machines can perform any intellectual task that humans can do, but also think, reason, adapt and innovate. The signs are clear: we may be approaching the end of the pre-AGI era.

The recent excitement about DeepSeek —a Chinese-developed AI model that rivals leading US systems at a fraction of the cost — has revealed two critical shifts. DeepSeek achieved this breakthrough through innovative architecture that dramatically reduces computational costs while maintaining performance. The first shift is simple: Al is getting cheaper to build. The second is more striking: technical limitations are falling away.

These developments carry crucial lessons for a country like Thailand. Positioned between AI superpowers, the stakes could not be higher. Thailand’s recent push towards digital transformation and the Thailand 4.0 initiative may soon be overtaken by a far more fundamental shift.

In my career of over four decades as a Professor and President of the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), I have witnessed the emergence and evolution of numerous developments — from using slide rules to calculators, from mainframe computers to personal laptops, and from basic automation to sophisticated AI systems. But none has been as rapid as what we are seeing today.

For nations like Thailand — long reliant on human capital and expertise to drive development, with key industries from automotive assembly to tourism services, and among the world’s fastest-ageing societies — there is an urgent need to move beyond viewing Al as just another trend and recognise it as a transformative force reshaping the world order.