What happened
On July 2, 2026, Thailand's Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA), under the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, released a revised draft Act on Artificial Intelligence for a roughly 30-day public hearing period. The draft adopts a tiered, EU AI Act-influenced risk classification system (three risk categories), imposes strict/joint liability for AI-related damages regardless of fault (with narrow defenses limited to force majeure, victim's own act, or compliance with an official order), applies extraterritorially to any AI action affecting persons in Thailand even if conducted abroad, mandates transparency/labeling for AI-generated content, and sets administrative fines of THB 1–5 million. Core product-launch provisions take effect immediately upon publication; risk-control/serious-incident provisions take effect 180 days after publication. This follows Thailand's AI Governance Week 2026 (June 29–July 3), including a first AI red-teaming forum for the banking sector.
Why it matters
If enacted, this would create one of the most comprehensive AI regulatory regimes in the Asia-Pacific region, with extraterritorial reach comparable to the EU AI Act, plus a strict-liability damages regime that is more stringent than most peer frameworks. Any organization whose AI systems affect individuals in Thailand — regardless of where the AI is developed or hosted — would need to assess compliance exposure, including local representative and risk-management obligations for high-risk systems.
Action needed
Organizations developing, deploying, or licensing AI systems accessible to or affecting individuals in Thailand should assess draft-act compliance impact and consider submitting comments during the public hearing period (~30 days from July 2, 2026) via the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society.