Democrat asks audit office to investigate Bt1.62bn TH-AI Passport project

Democrat deputy leader Karndee Leopairote filed a petition today with the State Audit Office (SAO), calling for an investigation into the transparency and legality of the Digital Economy and Society Promotion Agency (DESDA)'s implementation of the 1.62-billion-baht ‘TH-AI Passport’ project.

Karndee said that her party fully supports efforts to improve AI skills among Thai people, but stressed that every baht of taxpayers' money must be spent efficiently and transparently.

She said she and technology experts had identified several urgent concerns that warranted an independent investigation before the project undergoes acceptance and further budget disbursement.

One key concern is the project's revised payment model, which is based on the number of actual users, or ‘Pay per Active User’. Karndee said an analysis of the revised terms of reference (TOR) and contract found no clear written criteria for calculating the number of active users, leaving important matters largely to the discretion of the contracting agency.

Karndee also raised concerns over what she described as a failure to comply with the integrity pact requirement set out in the TOR.

According to the TOR, bidders for procurement projects worth 1 billion baht or more are required to sign an integrity pact and have an anti-corruption policy. The integrity pact allows representatives of the public or other third parties to monitor the procurement process through to the acceptance of the work.

Karndee said the project does not have such a monitoring process.

She also raised the possibility that the contract could be legally void, saying that the matter should be determined by the SAO.

The petition asks the SAO to investigate several areas, including the transparency of the procurement process, concerns over possible specification tailoring, and the value for money and effectiveness of the AI system, including claims that its quality is lower than some free AI services.

It also called for scrutiny of the definition of "innovative-level users", which is used as the basis for more than 1.481 billion baht in payments, and raised concerns over the lack of key performance indicators capable of measuring actual improvements in the AI skills of Thai users.

The Democrat Party has asked the SAO to suspend acceptance of the work and further budget disbursements until the concerns are investigated.

The ‘TH-AI Passport’ project officially began on August 31 and is scheduled to run until August 30 next year. Its official website says that it provides Thai citizens aged 15 and over with access to AI services through the ‘AiPASS’ platform.

Main photo: Democrat deputy leader Karndee Leopairote (L) submits a petition to a State Audit Office representative (R) today, calling for an investigation into the TH-AI Passport project.