Microsoft wants to make Thailand a hub for AI

Microsoft Thailand plans to make the country an artificial intelligence (AI) center in Asia by establishing an AI center of excellence.

During the participation of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin in the 2023 APEC leaders' meeting in San Francisco, the Thai government and US technology giant Microsoft signed a memorandum of understanding.

This agreement aimed at making Thailand a country focused on digital and AI was signed on November 15.

Dhanawat Suthumpun, Managing Director of Microsoft Thailand, said after the company's first AI Summit event in Thailand:

"After the signing, the company will continue its commitment to working with the Thai government and will hold quarterly meetings with the Prime Minister.

We see that Thailand has the potential to become one of the AI hubs in Asia, but it requires ongoing support and collaboration with the government ».

By creating this AI center, the company will invest in the cloud data center region, which is a cluster of data centers in the country.

This initiative will not only support local cloud computing with low network latency, but also compute AI tasks in Asia.

The government will need to support renewable energy resources to power these data centers.

Globally, by 2025, all Microsoft data centers will use renewable energy.

Mr. Dhanawat added that policymakers should change public procurement rules to support the use of cloud services on a subscription basis and promote long-term use of the cloud.

"We are still discussing the government's tax incentives to support the establishment of our data centers," he said.

Microsoft will also set up the AI Center of Excellence in Thailand in collaboration with the Big Data Institute under the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society.

The center aims to accelerate existing AI projects in the public sector.

See also: How AI will transform your hotel experience in Thailand?

The company will also deploy data scientists to work with the government on generative AI use cases and develop proofs of concept to demonstrate how AI can help the state improve digital government services and boost productivity, said Mr. Dhanawat.

Microsoft has selected three ministries as early adopters of online administration projects under the memorandum of understanding it signed with the government.

Microsoft will also continue its mission to develop future-ready skills for 10 million Thais by working with ministries and other stakeholders to equip Thais with crucial skills.

The Thai government has a roadmap for the national AI strategy, which aims to generate 48 billion baht in business and social impact by 2027.

"We are also providing a sustainability cloud service as part of a sustainability sandbox to help Thai businesses achieve their carbon footprint goal," said Mr. Dhanawat.

According to him, investing in AI will help the government and businesses increase productivity and reduce expenses without having to increase the workforce.

Mr. Dhanawat said Microsoft considers generative AI to be like the early days of smartphones and the internet.

“We are in the era of generative AI Copilot, where humans work alongside AI,” he said.

Microsoft Copilot is a complementary feature with AI capabilities.

The company has already integrated AI capabilities into its products, mainly in its Office 365 productivity tool.

Copilot for Microsoft 365 is available to business customers worldwide since November 1st, and works in conjunction with daily applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams.

Copilot for Microsoft 365 with Thai language support will be available at the beginning of 2024, said Mr. Dhanawat.

Thai companies have tested Copilot for Microsoft 365 over the past three months, including Advanced Info Service, Siam Commercial Bank, and PTT Exploration and Production.

According to a Microsoft survey of business users of Copilot in 41 countries, early adopters reported a 12 to 15% increase in productivity.

Some 70% of Copilot users reported being more productive, and 68% said the quality of their work had improved.

On average, Copilot users were 29% faster at tasks such as searching, writing, and summarizing.

In addition to AI, the company also invested in the production of Surface laptops in Thailand last year, as it considers the country's geographical location to be a geopolitical advantage for its global supply chain.

Part of the OpenAI (ChatGPT) team joins Microsoft

It should also be noted that Sam Altman, former CEO of OpenAI, was hired by Microsoft just a few days after being removed from his position as head of OpenAI, the publisher of ChatGPT.

The OpenAI board of directors stated that Altman would not be reinstated as CEO, and appointed Emmett Shear, former CEO of Twitch, as the new interim CEO.

Altman's departure surprised the tech industry and OpenAI investors, including Microsoft.

The Redmond giant announced that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, co-founder of OpenAI, would join the company to lead a new advanced research division in artificial intelligence (AI).

And hundreds of OpenAI employees could follow them, which means Microsoft is now positioning itself to dominate the artificial intelligence sector.

The acquisition of Altman's and Brockman's talent and expertise could propel the firm to new horizons of innovation in the field of AI.

See also:

AI-generated photos of monks shock Thailand

An Artificial Intelligence tracks down road offenders in Bangkok

Huawei to build AI and cloud training center in Thailand

A Thai claims he won the lottery thanks to ChatGPT

Source: Bangkok Post, Xavier Studer