One of the more consequential yet relatively underreported developments in Thailand’s emerging AI governance framework is the ongoing discussion surrounding a copyright exception for text and data mining (TDM), raising the broader question of whether Thai copyright law can support the data-intensive innovation model on which modern AI depends. Against longstanding uncertainty over the scope of copyright exceptions under Thai law, this article compares emerging approaches in Japan, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States and assesses the trade-offs between legal certainty for AI development and protection of rightsholders. It argues that Thailand’s eventual choice—whether to adopt a broad or conditional TDM exception, rely on existing copyright doctrines, or pursue a licensing-based solution—will be an important signal of how the country intends to balance copyright protection, creative-industry interests, and AI competitiveness.

ASEAN’s new ASPEC+ framework marks a cautious but meaningful shift from passive patent work-sharing toward active coordination among national IP offices. While far from a unified regional patent system, it may become an important test of whether procedural cooperation can gradually produce deeper convergence in ASEAN patent examination.