As AI takes on a growing role across sectors from finance and telecommunications to education, insurance, and everyday services, the key question is no longer simply, “How much can AI do?” Rather, it is: How do we use technology that grows more powerful by the day to create economic value while remaining safe, transparent, and accountable for its impact? Speaking at the panel discussion “AI to Drive the Economic Growth” at King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Mr. Montri Stapornkul, Head of Data Privacy Division at True Corporation Plc., shared his view that AI is not the “starting point” of a business challenge. It is a technology used to help address that challenge. Before choosing a model or platform, organizations must first be able to answer, “Why are we using AI?”. A clear purpose is the starting point of Responsible AI. Data fed into AI does not automatically become “raw material that can be freely used”. Whether it is personal data, usage data, or business data, it remains subject to the same laws, purposes, and conditions governing its use. Using AI therefore does not reduce accountability for data; instead, it requires governance to be clearer and proportionate to the level of risk in each use case.
Three Pillars of Responsible AI: Privacy – Security – AI Governance Must Move Together
AI governance must cover the entire Input – Processing – Output process, from the purpose and data entered into the system, to how that data is processed, through to outcomes that may affect users, businesses, and society. It rests on three key pillars: 1. Privacy – respecting and protecting user data; 2. Security – safeguarding systems and data in accordance with applicable laws and standards; and 3. AI Governance – governing platforms, models, accountable parties, human oversight, and ongoing monitoring so that AI remains aligned with its intended purpose and real-world context. Together, these three pillars form the foundation of Responsible AI and can be applied across every industry.
From an economic perspective, Responsible AI helps businesses understand which initiatives can move forward, which require stronger controls, and which need to be reconsidered. This reduces the need for remediation later and helps AI scale with confidence, enabling organizations to capture AI’s benefits while maintaining safety, transparency, and accountability. The level of control should be proportionate to the level of risk, rather than applying a single set of requirements to every type of AI. Transparency becomes especially important in services where AI interacts directly with customers, such as chatbots, Voice AI, or digital platforms. Users should know when they are communicating with AI or when AI plays a significant role in an outcome. At the same time, organizations must be able to explain why AI is being used, under what conditions data is used, and provide a way for people to step in, assist, or review a case when the system cannot handle a situation appropriately.
“AI can perform some processes in place of people, but accountability must remain with the organization because no AI model is perfect from day one. In high-impact cases, humans must be able to review, oversee, or intervene in decisions in line with the level of risk. At the same time, as models are used over the long term, context, data, and user behavior can change, potentially leading to bias, model drift, or new exceptions that were not anticipated when the system was designed. Responsible AI, therefore, is not a one-time check before launch. It must be a continuous process of monitoring, review, and improvement,” Mr. Montri emphasized.
Responsible AI Drives the Economy Forward, While AI Sovereignty Keeps Thailand’s Opportunities Open
Another key issue is Thailand’s readiness at a time when AI is becoming part of critical infrastructure, particularly as many models, platforms, and computing systems continue to depend on foreign technology. As more data, usage behavior, and AI models supporting the country’s critical services reside on external systems, “AI Sovereignty” is becoming increasingly important, not only for service continuity and data security, but also for Thailand’s ability to keep its options open and determine how technologies that affect infrastructure, the economy and citizens are used.
Mr. Montri said, “AI Sovereignty does not mean that Thailand has to build every model or every technology itself. What we need is to develop people, capabilities, and an ecosystem that allow us to choose, use, customize, switch providers, and build on technology appropriately, within clear laws, standards, and governance frameworks.”
If AI were compared to a high-performance sports car that can accelerate to speed in just a few seconds, potential or speed alone would not be enough. A car still needs roads, a steering wheel, brakes, and rules to reach its destination safely. The same applies to AI: the faster it develops, the faster governance systems must evolve to keep pace, allowing technology to move forward without losing control.
“Ultimately, success in the AI era should not be measured only by how much smarter or faster technology becomes. It should also be measured by how effectively we use that potential to raise productivity, create new services and opportunities, and extend the benefits to more people, while safeguarding security, accountability, and society’s trust at the same time. Responsible AI is therefore not a brake on innovation. It is a condition that enables innovation to move forward and scale sustainably,” Mr. Montri concluded.
