Is AI-Generated Content Legal in Thailand? What the Law Actually Says

If you're generating AI images or video in or about Thailand, it's worth knowing where the actual legal lines sit rather than guessing. The short version: Thailand doesn't yet have a law that regulates "AI-generated content" as its own dedicated category. A draft AI Act was released by Thailand's Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA) for public hearing on July 2, 2026, and it would introduce transparency and labeling duties for AI-generated images, audio, and video — but as of this writing it's still a draft going through public consultation, not enacted law. In the meantime, what actually applies to a generated image or video is the same general-purpose legislation that already covers manipulated media of any kind: the Computer-Related Crime Act, defamation provisions in the Penal Code, and the Personal Data Protection Act. This isn't legal advice — the framework is genuinely still moving, and for anything beyond casual personal use you should consult a lawyer licensed in Thailand about your specific situation.

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There's no Thai law that regulates "AI-generated content" as its own category yet

As of 2026, Thailand's legal system generally treats an AI-generated image or video the way it would treat any other manipulated or fabricated media — what matters is what the content depicts and how it's used, not the fact that a generative model produced it. That puts the laws most likely to actually apply to a generated image squarely in existing statutes: the Computer-Related Crime Act B.E. 2550 (2007), as amended by the Computer-Related Crime Act (No. 2) B.E. 2560 (2017), general defamation provisions in the Penal Code, and the Personal Data Protection Act B.E. 2562 (2019) where a real person's biometric likeness is involved.

What the Computer-Related Crime Act actually says about altered images

Section 16 of the Computer-Related Crime Act is the provision most directly on point for manipulated images, and its scope is general — it applies to any person, not a specific protected class. According to the official government-hosted translation published by Thailand's Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, it's an offense to bring into a publicly accessible computer system another person's picture that has been "created, edited, expanded, or modified" in a manner likely to cause that person disrepute, insult, hate, or humiliation, punishable by up to three years in prison and a fine of up to 200,000 baht. That's the closest thing Thailand currently has to a deepfake-specific rule, and it's built around harm to a real, identifiable person rather than the AI-generation method itself.

Thailand's draft AI Act would add labeling duties, but it isn't law yet

ETDA's July 2026 draft of the Act on Artificial Intelligence reportedly takes a risk-based approach broadly modeled on frameworks like the EU AI Act, and among its provisions is a requirement that developers of systems capable of generating or modifying images, audio, or video embed machine-readable marks identifying the output as AI-generated, with administrative fines reported in the range of 1–5 million baht per violation for high-risk non-compliance. As of this writing that draft is in a roughly 30-day public hearing period that opened July 2, 2026 — it has not been enacted, and provisions can change before (or if) it takes effect. Treat any specific labeling or disclosure requirement as provisional until the finalized text is published in the Royal Gazette.

The highest-risk area is content involving a real, identifiable person

Thailand's Anti-Fake News Centre has publicly warned that AI deepfake images of real people can already breach existing Thai law even without a dedicated AI statute, and Thai media coverage in 2026 has specifically flagged sexual or reputation-damaging deepfakes of real, identifiable individuals — celebrity or otherwise — as the clearest area of legal exposure under the Computer-Related Crime Act and Penal Code defamation provisions. This is the area where a generic reassurance is least useful: content depicting, naming, or closely imitating a real person's face or voice sits in a materially different risk category from entirely fictional content.

What this actually means if you generate fictional AI content

For entirely fictional, non-real-person AI characters — content that doesn't depict, name, or closely imitate any actual identifiable individual — the current Thai legal picture generally looks lower-risk than content built around a real person's likeness, since the Computer-Related Crime Act's Section 16 and Penal Code defamation provisions are specifically about harm to a real, identifiable person. That said, Thailand's regulatory direction through the draft AI Act signals that generation-and-labeling obligations for AI platforms are likely to tighten, not loosen, over time. None of this is a substitute for legal advice tailored to what you're actually doing — Thai AI and cybercrime law is genuinely in flux through 2026, and only a lawyer licensed in Thailand can tell you how it applies to your specific situation.

FAQ

Is there a specific Thai law about AI-generated content?

Not yet, as of 2026 — a draft AI Act was opened for public hearing on July 2, 2026 by Thailand's ETDA, but it hasn't been enacted. Generated content is currently judged under existing general-purpose law instead: the Computer-Related Crime Act, Penal Code defamation provisions, and the Personal Data Protection Act. This is a general summary, not legal advice.

Is it legal to generate an AI image of a real person in Thailand without their consent?

This is the highest-risk category under current Thai law as we understand it. Section 16 of the Computer-Related Crime Act criminalizes altering or creating another person's picture in a way likely to cause disrepute, insult, hate, or humiliation, with penalties of up to three years in prison and a fine of up to 200,000 baht — and reputation-damaging content can separately implicate Penal Code defamation provisions. Consult a lawyer licensed in Thailand before treating this as settled for your specific case.

Does Thailand require AI-generated content to be labeled?

Not yet as binding law. A draft AI Act released for public hearing in July 2026 would require developers of certain AI-generation systems to embed machine-readable AI-generated marks, but as of this writing that draft has not been enacted and its final requirements could change.

Where can I find the actual text of Thailand's Computer-Related Crime Act?

Thailand's Ministry of Digital Economy and Society hosts the government translation of the Computer-Related Crime Act B.E. 2550 (2007) and its 2017 amendment — that's a more authoritative primary source than relying on secondhand summaries, including this one.