Thailand: The rise of the technocratic state

Thailand is rapidly adopting tools of technocracy, including the introduction of a “robocop” with advanced AI to detect and prevent crime, and a “safety” hub of CCTV cameras with AI video analytics and facial recognition tracking.

The use of digital payments via QR code scanning and one-time passwords (“OTP”) is becoming widespread, with OTP codes serving as a form of digital ID by stealth, connecting a person’s identity to their phone number.

The Thai government is implementing biometric systems, including facial recognition and iris scanning, to track and manage migrant workers, and a new SIM card registration system using liveness detection technology is being introduced to prevent malicious registrations.

By Nicholas Creed, 30 April 2025

I will preface this roundup by reminding readers that the overwhelming majority of Bangkok’s visible population are walking around like zombies, staring at their phones. In the parks, most people just want to find a quiet spot in beautiful nature – to spend quality time with their phones. It is getting more difficult to use cash as vendors rarely have change. People love to pay for things using their phones via QR code scanning with banking apps. Bangkok is ground zero for all things technocratic to be battle-tested. There is no resistance. There shall be no resistance. The people love digitaltopia. The populace is fully primed for a fully functioning technocratic society.

I would love to be proven wrong.

Meet Robocop aka “Colonel Safety”

I was surprised to learn about Thailand’s first friendly neighbourhood terminator protégé via Zerohedge, rather than in local news – which was reported after the fact.

Via Zerohedge:

Thailand has debuted the world’s first “Robocop” designed to detect and prevent crime with advanced AI.

Equipped with 360-degree cameras for eyes, the cutting-edge cyborg maintains constant surveillance with real-time monitoring. The robocop, named Police Colonel Nakhonpathom Plod Phai, meaning “Nakhonpathom is safe,” was unveiled during the Songkran festival in Nakhon Pathom province on Wednesday. The debut was announced via a Facebook post by the Royal Thai Police, according to a report by The Sun.

The robocop is also able to detect weapons, such as knives and wooden batons. In neighbouring China, humanoid robots have started supporting police patrols.

‘Cyborg 1.0’: World’s First Robocop Debuts With Facial Recognition And 360° Camera Vision, Zerohedge, 19 April 2025

Ah, of course, most official announcements are made on anti-social media platforms these days! That’s why I was kept in the dark.

Related: Singapore patrol robots stoke fears of surveillance state, Bangkok Post, 6 October 2021

Facial Recognition, Tracking People and Identifying Suspects

Before the Thai New Year “Songkran” festival, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (“BMA”) announced setting up a “safety” hub of CCTV cameras, using AI video analytics and facial recognition tracking. I suppose doing it for our safety plays better as a trial balloon in gauging public perception, as opposed to announcing they are setting up a panopticon surveillance grid infrastructure contributing towards a dystopian smart city, whereby everyone is assigned a social credit score.

In the above Bangkok Post article, the truth was buried in textbook fashion halfway through the piece (emphasis added):

The Traffic and Transport Department has prepared for the “Ten Dangerous Days” road safety campaign by installing CCTVs in key areas, such as Khao San Road, which consists of 186 cameras, 16 cameras along the Road, 11 face cameras and four screening points.

Silom Road has 115 cameras, 28 cameras along the road, 13 face cameras, two panoramic and PTZ cameras, one PTZ camera, and five screening points.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been implemented to assist in facial recognition, tracking individuals and identifying suspects.

For your safety.

Phone Users Asked To Adjust Registration Data Accordingly

If you live in Bangkok, you will have noticed that one-time passwords (“OTP”) have been slowly incorporated into just about everything, from food and water delivery services to banking confirmations using a debit or credit card for an online payment. It is the evolution of those pesky captcha phrase click boxes. It wasto “prove you are not a bot.” OTP codes are six-digit numerical codes which are sent to a person’s mobile number by text message, which they then input to approve a payment online or log in to an app or website, etc.

Now, a new catchy phrase has been launched – “proof of personhood.” OTP codes sent to your mobile phone are a digital ID by stealth because your identity is connected to your phone number. This becomes a mandatory registration prerequisite for not only telecoms providers but also banking apps.

Authorities will verify the names of foreign subscribers of 700,000 mobile phone numbers before deciding whether to terminate their mobile banking services in Thailand in June, according to the Minister of Digital Economy and Society (DES).

DES Minister Prasert Jantararuangtong said the mobile phone numbers had been registered since January 2022. About 700,000 mobile phone numbers registered to foreigners in Thailand together with about 1.8 million mobile phone numbers that had not been registered to anyone would be checked, he said.

The measure was introduced on 1 February and mobile banking service users were required to comply with the rule by 30 April (this Wednesday). Otherwise, mobile banking services on improperly registered phones will be terminated in June. [Emphasis added]

Checks underway on 700,000 Thai mobile phone numbers of foreigners,Bangkok Post, 27 April 2025

The deadline is today! Long gone are the days when one could rock up to a 711, buy a SIM card for 50 baht, and be good to go. No, no, no, no. The 711 stores now have cameras mounted on the cashiers, snap the SIM card buyer’s face, then scan their ID card. Now the government is cracking down on existing SIM cards. No getting grandfathered in on this one, I’m afraid.

For your safety.

Commenters on the above Bangkok Post article do not seem thrilled:

#SimGate has taken another twist, in that “biometric SIM registration” has been approved …

The board of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) approved on Wednesday the draft of a new SIM card registration system and the collection of mobile users’ data through a biometric system.

The draft requires all mobile operators to process the SIM card registration via liveness detection technology.

The requirement is expected to take effect in 180 days as mobile service operators need time to adjust their systems for compliance.

The new rule is to prevent malicious registrations, such as using other people’s photos, editing other people’s photos from clips or using photos taken from outdated images to register, said NBTC board chairman Dr. Sarana Boonbaichaiyapruck.

Biometric SIM registration approved, Bangkok Post, 20 February 2025

Ah, I see, it’s also for our safety, how about that?! I assume that “liveness detection” will involve people moving their heads from side to side for the camera, whilst their facial templates are captured and stored in an interoperable database that is super, super secure.

People here are always taking selfies and dancing on their own with tripod-mounted phone holders to make their TikTok videos, so I imagine that liveness detection posing will be a breeze and embraced by all with a smile.

Biometric ID Management into the Public Health Ecosystem

In our final story of this technocratic roundup, we find another bogeyman in the form of those nuisance migrants [sarcasm]. In the interests of public health … you know the drill.

The Thai government has opted for a face and iris biometric system as part of efforts to tighten its control on the millions of migrant workers in the country, and to prevent the risk of spreading diseases.

This is a move approved recently by the National Communicable Diseases Committee, The Nation reports.

The country’s Public Health Minister, Somsak Thepsuthin, explained during the committee meeting that around 1.2 million of the 5.2 million migrant workers in the country are undocumented, which makes it difficult for the government to keep track of them, including for purposes of disease control.

To effectively deal with this challenge, the government says the Thai Red Cross Society, in collaboration with the Department of Disease Control and the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (NECTEC), has come up with a multimodal biometric system that will henceforth be used to identify, track and manage these foreign workers.

The health minister is quoted as saying that the biometric system will verify the identity of these undocumented migrant workers for public health and humanitarian assistance. It will be integrated into the country’s public health ecosystem to ensure that the right persons have access to the right medical services at the right time.

“Personal information will be registered using biometric technology, including facial recognition and iris scanning. This enables authorities to create accurate identity data for public health services, disease surveillance, and control in individuals without identification,” Thepsuthin is quoted as explaining.

In 2023, Thailand trialled an iris biometrics system aimed at setting up a disease control database for undocumented individuals. The project was also a collaboration of the Thai Red Cross Society and the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (NECTEC), and had [a] specific objective to facilitate access to health services on humanitarian terms for individuals without ID cards.

Thailand integrates biometric ID management into public health ecosystem, Biometric Update, 7 April 2025

What’s there not to love about “face and iris biometric system to tighten control of migrants?”

Come on guys, please sympathise that it is “difficult for the government to keep track of them, including for purposes of disease control.”

I sure hope they don’t leave the other foreigners out. Maybe people will be able to post pictures on their Fakebook profiles after they get their irises and faces scanned, with a cheesy smile and a big thumbs up, along with the caption: “I got vaccinated scanned. 😃👁👨‍💻”

Let’s zoom out and run down all the technocratic developments in this post and my previous posts on this subject:

• Central bank digital currency launch imminent.
• Digital wallet stimulus trialled as a precursor to universal basic income.
• Digital ID by stealth using mobile phone registration.
• Biometrics capture for SIM card registration and mobile banking.
• Digital arrival cards from 1st May with “vaccines” approved by the World Health Organisation and the Thailand Ministry of Public Health to be stipulated in order to enter the country.
• Biometrics incorporated into the public health system for tracking and other implications in the event of another “pandemic.”
• Command centre set up with hundreds of additional CCTV cameras installed, equipped with AI video analytics to assist in facial recognition, tracking individuals and identifying suspects.

It is almost as if we have the rumblings of a two-tier society coming into fruition, with a new underclass …

About the Author

Nicholas Creed is a writer based in Bangkok.    You can follow him on his Substack page ‘Creed Speech’ HERE.