Reskill and upskill — AI to play increasingly greater role in our lives, say CEOs

The seminar was organised by Krungthep Turakij at Eastin Grand Hotel Phayathai in Bangkok.

Jareeporn Jarukornsakul, chairman of the executive committee and Group CEO of WHA Corporation Plc, said many organisations were keeping an eye on AI, geopolitics and climate change.

She added that some organisations were also looking into quantum computing and cybersecurity.

"AI was introduced in 1950, 73 years ago, but we’re talking about it this year," she said, adding that AI is becoming an integral part of people's lives.

She said WHA has adopted AI in its logistics, utilities and power, and digital businesses in a bid to boost operational efficiency.

She added that her organisation is being promoted to become data-driven, starting with training employees to be familiar with AI.

If employees oppose AI, we cannot become a data-driven organisation, she said.

She said AI had been adopted in sustainable development to tackle environmental issues, covering solar system, electric vehicles (EVs), charging stations and route optimisation.

She added that the organisation was also looking at quantum computing to lower costs and boost operational efficiency.

“For instance, we launched a smart water management platform, allowing AI to study data to deal with drought,” she explained.

She said large companies needed government support to become data-driven organisations, including infrastructure, legal support, supply chain development, investment promotion and improved labour skills.

She added that Thailand has the potential to become a digital hub if the country cooperated with foreign investors.

Moving towards an AI era

Auttapol Rerkpiboon, the CEO and president of PTT Plc, said the world was moving towards an AI era, or an "era of enlightening". Data scientists are playing an important role in digital transformation, he added.

"Digital development will continue, so nobody knows what will happen next," he said.

He sees two possibilities in the AI era — AI humanisation and AI-human socialisation. Humans will live with AI with different meanings, he added.

He said the demand for personnel related to AI and robotics had increased so far, adding that this group of personnel could help boost Asean's gross domestic product by 13%.

He said PTT was adopting AI and robotics in its businesses to reduce costs and improve operational efficiency, covering power, health and industrial technologies.

PTT aimed to adopt AI in charging stations to promote the use of EVs nationwide by later this year, he said, adding that PTT and True Corporation had launched "MorDee" telemedicine application to mitigate government spending on medical treatment.

He added that PTT Exploration and Production's subsidiary, AI and Robotics Ventures, had introduced a variety of unmanned vehicles, such as drones for agriculture.

However, Auttapol said the government should support chip manufacturers to drive Thailand towards the AI era. He also advised businesses to have mitigation plans to cope with the risk of being hacked.

Knowing how to use a priority

Arak Sutivong, deputy CEO of SCBX, said the most important thing to drive organisations towards the AI era is understanding how to use it.

He explained that the arrival of AI six years ago was unclear. He said SCBX had failed to mitigate workloads during the first phase of automation development due to lack of awareness and data.

He said SCBX has many subsidiaries to help with data gathering, adding that the company now has more than 1,000 data scientists and engineers compared to around 800 people six years ago.

"We have set a target to generate 75% of revenue from AI within five years," he said.

He said creating a culture that accepts AI is also important to enhance organisations and promote the wide use of AI.

Arak said Thailand has the opportunity to be a digital hub if the government promoted this issue, adding that Thailand had sufficient infrastructure to do so.

Need to reskill and upskill

Jirayut Srupsrisopa, founder and CEO of Bitkub, said AI was now a hot topic in the world as it could benefit many industries.

He pointed out that many current labour skills would become outdated, as AI would change the business model in the next five years.

In 2030, about one-third of people would have to reskill and upskill, he said, adding that skills necessary for AI era are soft skills, such as communication and AI training.

Jirayut said AI would democratise technical abilities, as computer coding can be done faster with the help of AI. He added that AI would influence education, investment and people's living.

AI can be a personal teacher for students, while it can facilitate human teachers in preparing teaching materials, he explained, adding that AI could enhance production and services.

He also expects AI to conquer the internet in the next two years, as people can ask for information from the technology instead of searching on the internet.

However, Jirayut warned that people should not be too obsessed with AI due to its ability to analyse people's interests and provide information that meets their needs.

That is why the next prime minister should be aware of AI, so that the government can put in place regulations to ensure people's safety, he added.