The government played down an incident involving the TH-AI Passport project after a word-and-colour game linked “senators” with blue, the colour associated with the Bhumjaithai Party (BJT).
Deputy Transport Minister and BJT deputy leader Siripong Angkasakulkiat said on Wednesday that the incident showed users should understand how AI works and should not automatically treat its answers as facts.
The issue gained attention on social media after a user tested the AI system in the TH-AI Passport project by asking it to match words with colours.
When the term “senators” was entered, the system responded with “blue”, prompting jokes and political comments.
Many believe Bhumjaithai is closely aligned to a so-called blue faction of senators. The connection is not always portrayed in flattering terms.
The answer caused a stir on social media, with many users praising the AI as “being smart” and “having deep knowledge.” Others said they tried the same test and got the same result.
The original poster later shared a video to confirm the result was genuine and not edited.
Mr Siripong said he also did his own test using ChatGPT, asking it to choose a colour that best matched each word he entered. The system returned “banana-yellow, apple-red, senators-orange, Nantana-pink and Siripong-blue”, he said.
He said he was not an AI expert but grew up experimenting with the technology. He said AI responses depended on the information available to each system and how it processed the data.
Citing navigation apps as an example, he said they directed users to incorrect routes but became more accurate as more people used them and the systems learned from the data they received. Mr Siripong said the proper way to use AI is to ask questions, check the answers, and consider whether the responses made sense.
He added users should not simply believe what an AI system or other people tell them without checking the information or asking questions. “If you use it this way, you won’t become stupid. If you believe whatever it tells you, or whatever people tell you, without verifying or asking questions, then you will definitely be,” he said.
Government spokesman Dr Ekkapob Pianpises on Wednesday encouraged people to make fuller use of the TH-AI Passport, saying most AI users still rely on the technology mainly for basic information searches.
In a Facebook post, Dr Ekkapob said about 80% of AI users use the technology much like they use Google, while only 20% use prompts effectively to get more from AI systems.
He recommended Perplexity’s Sonar Deep Research, included in the TH-AI Passport, which can help with literature reviews and research summaries.