As Thailand’s Ministry of Education announced a collaboration with TikTok Thailand to create AI-generated short educational videos for students on the platform itself, public concerns have mounted over the impact of screen time and social media use.
The announcement was made on Thursday following discussions between Education Minister Prasert Jantararuangtong and the company. The talks covered past and future collaboration, with a focus on promoting digital literacy through educational programmes to support career development.
The partnership also aims to advance the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to help reduce teacher workload.
“AI can assist teachers in creating two-minute educational videos, making lessons easier for students to understand while also saving teachers time in producing teaching materials,” Mr Prasert said.
The videos would be posted on TikTok, where students and teachers could engage through the comment section, he added.
The idea has drawn criticism across social media, with many questioning whether Thailand is moving in the right direction at a time when several countries around the world are introducing restrictions on youth social media use.
An online page, Reporter Journey, which has more than 250,000 followers, raised the question: “Is this to reduce teachers’ workload or the quality of education?”
The page argued that Thai teachers’ workload problems are not caused by “a lack of video materials” but by a government system that places excessive responsibilities on them, alongside shortages in staffing and insufficient institutional support.
The criticism added that while the project may portray the ministry as modern and could benefit the platform, what it failed to consider was how to create “Thai students who can read, write, think and sit still to learn for more than 120 minutes.”
The reaction prompted the ministry to clarify the issue on Monday, saying it understands and takes seriously the concerns raised by parents and society.
Noting that digital technology has become part of how modern children learn and live, Education Ministry spokesman Tatiyaphat Pitisatetapan said the ministry’s objective is not to encourage children to spend more time on social media. Rather, it is to equip them with appropriate, safe and responsible digital literacy and AI literacy skills so they can navigate the modern world effectively.
The core principle, he said, is that “technology should be a tool for learning, not the goal of education”.
“Technology use must be age-appropriate, should not increase screen time unnecessarily, and must not negatively affect children’s development. It also cannot replace classrooms, teachers or real-world learning experiences,” Mr Tatiyaphat said.
Many countries seek to find the right balance between technology and child development, and Thailand also places importance on this issue, he said.
“Therefore, the understanding that the ministry aims to encourage children to use TikTok or social media more may not reflect the main objective of this initiative,” the spokesman said.
However, online commentators continue to express concern that TikTok, as a social media platform, exposes children to a wide range of content that is not limited to educational material.
Many questioned why TikTok was chosen when stand-alone AIs can generate educational media, both images and videos, and produce longer-form content, while also pointing to concerns that short-form platforms may contribute to reduced attention spans.
