Industry Ministry deploys AI system to tackle surge in substandard imports
Industry Minister Akanat Promphan has unveiled TISI Watch, an AI-driven system developed by the INDX committee to detect non-compliant products across online platforms. The tool has flagged over 98,000 listings in five months, as Thailand battles a flood of poor-quality cross-border goods threatening local industries.
Industry Minister Akanat Promphan has announced that the Ministry is preparing to roll out TISI Watch, an AI-powered intelligent system designed to detect non-compliant and substandard products across all online platforms.
The system will monitor hundreds of thousands of product listings to ensure consumer protection and uphold product standards.
In tandem, the Ministry plans to expand its industrial inspection teams into the digital space, forming a full-scale online surveillance initiative to counter the surge of low-quality foreign goods flooding the Thai market—goods that are increasingly harming the domestic economy and industrial sector.
According to a recent report by the Federation of Thai Industries, the influx of substandard imports continues to grow at an alarming rate. These products, often lacking any quality certification, have severely affected Thai manufacturers by undercutting prices, violating intellectual property rights, and infiltrating export channels under false pretences. The issue now spans virtually all product categories, posing a widespread threat to both the economy and \industrial competitiveness.
Due to limited manpower, the Ministry has tasked the Committee on Technology and Innovation for Industrial Reform (INDX) with spearheading enforcement efforts using digital tools. INDX has spent the past five months developing TISI Watch, a system designed to automatically detect non-compliant products using AI bots.
These bots scan e-commerce platforms, using keyword recognition and image-matching technology to compare listings against Thailand's TISI (Thai Industrial Standards Institute) database. The system also compiles URLs that may violate the TISI Act. In just five months, TISI Watch has flagged over 98,756 potentially illegal listings.
Preliminary analysis reveals the three most common categories of non-compliant goods:
Food-contact plastic products
Children's toys
Electrical appliances
All three fall under mandatory TISI certification laws, designed to ensure safety and quality for Thai consumers. The findings highlight the urgent need for AI-driven systems like TISI Watch to address regulatory gaps and protect the public.
