Google Cloud launches ‘PanyaThAI’ to spur AI adoption in Thailand

Google Cloud has launched PanyaThAI, a digital transformation initiative designed to help Thai organisations deploy enterprise-grade agentic artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

At launch, the initiative will support 15 charter organisations from key economic sectors, including Chulalongkorn University, the Stock Exchange of Thailand, Sansiri, Siam Piwat, TISCO Financial Group, and True Digital Group.

According to a study by Public First, a policy, research and strategy consultancy, AI could contribute about 730 billion baht (US$21bn) to Thailand’s economy by 2030. However, the research noted that barriers such as data readiness, skills shortages, and concerns over AI trustworthiness have held back organisations from taking full advantage of AI.

PanyaThAI – a portmanteau of Panya (wisdom) and Thai – aims to bridge this gap by providing a blueprint that includes Google’s full-stack AI infrastructure, consulting expertise, and workforce training.

The programme will also provide access to Google’s latest foundation models, including Veo 3.1 and Gemini 3, and is supported by partners such as Accenture, Deloitte, as well as NTT Data, which has committed to certifying 300 additional local experts to support the initiative.

Annop Siritikul, country director for Google Cloud Thailand, said companies that have embraced AI from Google Cloud have transcended “pilot purgatory,” achieving an average return on investment (ROI) of 727% in three years with a payback period of just eight months.

“Our ambition is to help them foster a workforce that’s ‘bilingual’ in their domain and AI, accelerating their ability to solve complex challenges and drive consistent ROI from AI,” he added.

Charter members showcased early successes during the launch, highlighting how agentic AI – systems that can take autonomous action to achieve goals – is already reshaping operations.

SE-Education, a publisher and distributor of educational content, showed how it has transformed its e-marketplace platform by embedding a generative AI-powered semantic search agent that understands conceptual queries from users rather than just keywords.

For example, a query like “how do cells divide to make more cells?” now surfaces biology textbooks, targeted study guides, and engaging science comics. A search phrase like “coping better with work pressure” will present a curated list of titles on topics like managing negative thought patterns, achieving work-life balance, and strategies for thriving at work.

Passpunnee Mahayos, head of digital business at SE-Education, said by harnessing the same AI components that underpin Google Search, the company’s AI search agent helps e-marketplace users discover highly relevant resources faster and with greater precision.

“This enhanced experience has proven that faster discovery leads directly to purchases – driving organic conversion rates from 12% to a remarkable 27%, while successfully reducing bounce rates to 10% and cart abandonment to just 6%,” she added.

In the manufacturing sector, lingerie brand Thai Wacoal is deploying a creative agent powered by generative media models to solve the “photoshoot predicament”, a costly, time-consuming process where every new colour variation for a single item demands its own custom-produced physical sample, studio shipment, and full model shoot.

Acting as a digital dye house, the creative agent, when ready by the first quarter of 2026, will help the company generate photorealistic images and videos of apparel in various colours from a single base photo.

Supranee Auiyasathian, deputy director of digital business for Wacoal at Thai Wacoal, said the use of the agent will also help the company shift to a high-mix, low-volume or made-to-order manufacturing model, where production can be tied directly to actual customer engagement and demand.

Google has operated in Thailand for over a decade. In 2024, it announced that it was investing $1bn to build its cloud and datacentre infrastructure in the country to meet the growing demand for cloud services.