prg.ai newsletter #61: Pěchouček, Pavel, The Pope. And a Czech AI factory in Ostrava

We Czechs have a peculiar talent. The moment something good appears elsewhere, we immediately ask: “Why couldn’t that have happened here?” But artificial intelligence is a field where we cannot afford that luxury. Looking at the countries setting the pace today, few of them succeeded thanks to a single institution or a single city. They are successful because they managed to connect research, business, investors, public administration and education into one functioning whole.

I know this first-hand – when founding prg.ai, we drew inspiration from Canada, where nobody cares whether you are from Vancouver, Toronto or Montreal. What matters is shared determination.

That is why I consider the launch of the Czech AI Factory in Ostrava such an important moment. Not because of the infrastructure itself, but because of what it symbolises. The project brings together institutions from across the country – IT4Innovations in Ostrava, our members CIIRC CTU, FEE CTU and the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University in Prague, and Brno University of Technology. Each contributes something different, and none of those pieces would be enough on its own.

I have been saying for years in my talks that collaboration is the only sustainable strategy for AI in the Czech Republic. It is precisely our ability to pull together that will decide whether we help shape technological trends or merely adopt them from elsewhere.

Lenka Kučerová
Director of prg.ai

Inside prg.ai

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prg.ai Minor Industry Talks: Textbooks aren’t reality

At the latest prg.ai Minor Industry Talks, we welcomed Jaroslav Staněk from Diribet, who showed students what working with data looks like in real manufacturing. Instead of perfectly prepared datasets, companies deal with incomplete data and noise. One of the key takeaways? The outputs of today’s AI still need human interpretation and context.

Commissioner Virkkunen in Prague

CEE AI Ambassador Jan Kavalírek hosted a meeting between European Commissioner Henna Virkkunen and leading figures of the Czech AI ecosystem. The event – attended by our director Lenka Kučerová, CTU Rector Michal Pěchouček and Government Commissioner for AI Lukáš Kačena – focused primarily on the concrete successes of the Czech AI ecosystem. The message was clear: Brussels must count on us.

Broaden your horizons at AI Horizons 2026

Sara Lagerquist of Microsoft, CEE AI Ambassador Jan Kavalírek and Jan Pém, AI & Innovation Lead at Penta Hospitals. They will all speak at the AI Horizons 2026 conference on 23–24 September. Expect real-world business experience as well as a dedicated programme track on AI adoption in public administration, prepared by the Czech National AI Platform.

A bonus for newsletter subscribers: use the code CNAIP15 to get 15% off your tickets.

We have the talent. So what are we missing?

Filip Hartmann of prg.ai explains in an interview why the Czech Republic has not (yet) become one of Europe’s leading AI hubs. He talks about the shortage of specialists, the conditions for research and development, and where the limits of AI deployment should lie – for instance in mental health.

AI in the non-profit sector

prg.ai also took part in the May workshop of the Czech Donors Forum. Filip Hartmann showed representatives of non-profit organisations and foundations how to use artificial intelligence safely in fundraising and internal communication. Martin Čapek of KPMG Legal added the legal context and the rules for working with data.

Two more professors for prg.ai

Among the 93 newly appointed professors are two members of the prg.ai executive board. Professorships went to Josef Šivic of CIIRC CTU, a leading expert in computer vision and machine learning, and Ondřej Bojar of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at Charles University, who has long focused on machine translation, natural language processing and large language models.

A familiar face returns to prg.ai

Communications at prg.ai are now led by Jan Tomeš Milec. He is in charge of the entire communications strategy, from media relations to e-mailing and social media. He is no newcomer, though: he worked at prg.ai years ago, looking after marketing and PR and co-designing the visual identity the association still uses today.

Big Picture

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Pěchouček, Pavel, The Pope

All three have spoken about artificial intelligence in recent weeks. At first glance, it is an unlikely trio – the President of the Czech Republic, a university rector and the head of the Catholic Church. Yet they all touched on a similar question: how AI will transform society, and how to prepare for that change.

President Petr Pavel, appointing new professors, noted that AI can no longer be ignored and that universities will have to rethink what they actually want to pass on to their students. He also mentioned the importance of the amendment to the Higher Education Act currently being prepared by the Ministry of Education.

CTU Rector Michal Pěchouček, in his address to the general assembly of the Learned Society of the Czech Republic, looked at how AI is changing the very process of scientific discovery – from data analysis to the formulation of new hypotheses. He used a telling example: AlphaFold2, which determined the structure of more than 200 million proteins in two years – more than all the world’s scientists had managed in the previous 70 years.

Nor should you miss the first encyclical of Pope Leo XIV. In it, the head of the Catholic Church appeals to governments to slow down the development of artificial intelligence. According to the Vatican, the technology is fuelling conflicts around the world and contributing to the spread of disinformation. Paradoxically, technology companies were involved in Leo XIV’s first major text – Chris Olah of Anthropic could be spotted at the press conference accompanying the encyclical.

Research Radar

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€1 million for bold ideas

An unprecedented initiative in the history of CTU. That is how Rector Michal Pěchouček described the new Interdisciplinary Near Future Challenge grant programme. A total of €1 million (CZK 24 million) from private donors will fund ambitious interdisciplinary projects by young researchers across the university.

A direct line from Prague to Berkeley

FIT CTU has launched a research collaboration with UC Berkeley, one of the world’s most prestigious universities. Together they are exploring how machine learning can dramatically speed up plasma simulations – the matter that makes up stars and fusion reactors. Where calculations currently take hours, AI could deliver results in minutes.

Czech research scores in France

Researchers from CIIRC succeeded at PMS 2026, an international conference on the planning and optimisation of complex processes. In his talk, Přemysl Šůcha showed how machine learning can help with complex scheduling problems, such as planning the use of operating theatres in hospitals. Vilém Heinz also did well, taking second place in the best student paper competition.

A scientist from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory visits VŠE

80,000 citations and a laboratory associated with 17 Nobel Prizes. That is the record of Dr Chris Mungall, whose online lecture was hosted by the Prague University of Economics and Business. Participants learnt how to use artificial intelligence and knowledge graphs to support biomedical research.

A new home for quantum experiments

FEE CTU has opened a new laboratory for quantum technologies. It includes a quantum communication polygon for research, testing and teaching, and should eventually become part of the European quantum communication network. “More than thirty years ago, experts from our faculty were behind Czechoslovakia’s connection to the internet. Today, another technological chapter is opening,” adds Prof Petr Páta, Dean of FEE CTU.

There is more than one truth

What if data tell more than one story? Datamole Data Scientist Kateřina Henclová presented GEMSS, a method capable of finding several different explanations for the same phenomenon. It will be particularly useful in research and development, where data tend to be scarce and the right interpretation matters as much as model accuracy.

Václav Moravec: How AI is changing journalism

A lecture by the former Czech Television presenter at CTU offers an insight into how artificial intelligence is transforming newsrooms. The full recording is available on YouTube.

AI in Action

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“Do we need a tender for that?”

A new AI model, Municipal 4.1, developed at FEE CTU, is heading to town halls. It is designed for mayors who need to check quickly how to proceed in a specific situation. It navigates legislation, administration and public-sector processes, and should help municipalities above all with speed and accuracy.

What do the Beneš Decrees and pre-action letters have in common?

You will be able to ask four upcoming AI assistants from the CZDEMOS4AI consortium about both. They will provide answers grounded in expert data and current research, serving teachers, journalists, therapists, social workers – and anyone looking for a well-founded answer in the fields of history, media, law or mental health.

The state begins to address AI’s impact on employment

The Minister of Labour and Social Affairs has announced a new action group focusing on the impact of artificial intelligence on the labour market. It will monitor changes across industries and prepare scenarios for future developments so that the state can respond in time.

Profinit is now Amdocs

After more than 25 years, the Czech technology company Profinit is changing its name. It now operates under the Amdocs brand, completing its integration into the global group of the same name. You can also watch a short video introducing the company’s new chapter.

The City of Prague Museum teaches how AI works

How do ChatGPT, neural networks and large language models work? AI Fair Play, a new educational methodology from the City of Prague Museum, explains the principles of artificial intelligence in a way accessible to people without a technical background. The teaching set of 24 cards is available free of charge in Czech and English, with expert guarantee provided by the Department of Computer Science at FEE CTU.

Humanoid robots: revolution or expensive toy?

Humanoid robots are quickly moving from technology demos into real debates about the future of manufacturing. But there is still a long way between a viral video and reliable operation. What already works, and what remains a marketing promise? Find out in Václav Kubáček’s realistic reflection on the CIIRC website.

Meet Koog 1.0

The JetBrains team has introduced Koog 1.0, an open-source framework. It promises companies and developers the ability to build their own AI agents instead of relying on off-the-shelf chatbots. Curious where else JetBrains has been doing well? Browse the company’s annual highlights.

AI servers made in Pardubice

The French supercomputer maker Bull, whose group also includes the Czech company DataSentics, will start manufacturing supercomputers in Pardubice. According to the company, the investment, worth billions of crowns, should help secure Europe’s technological independence – most of the Pardubice–French production will serve the needs of our continent.

Europe wants smarter energy

The European Commission has presented a new roadmap for digitalising Europe’s energy system and using AI in the sector. The next step is the launch of the AI.grids initiative, which aims to develop shared AI models for European energy and whose members include ČEPS, a prg.ai partner.

91% of Czech e-shops are invisible to AI

Czech customers increasingly search for products through AI assistants. Yet these services overlook the vast majority of e-shops, and an important role is being taken on by the Czech comparison platform Heureka. It is Heureka’s structured data and reviews that AI agents draw on for their shopping recommendations. For ChatGPT, Heureka is the 4th most cited source in the Czech Republic; for Perplexity, it is the 2nd most cited, right after YouTube.

A successful month for České Radiokomunikace

Their team has been joined by CEE AI Ambassador Jan Kavalírek, who will oversee the coordination of the AI Gigafactory project at CRA. The company has also been listed in the eGovernment catalogue of providers at security level 3 (BU3). Construction of the new Prague Gateway DC data centre is also proceeding on schedule.

NVIDIA honours M Computers

M Computers has won three awards at the NVIDIA Partner Awards EMEA 2026. The jury recognised both the company’s rapid growth and its track record in delivering complex AI solutions built on NVIDIA technologies.

MSD expands its AI division in Prague

Not just drug research, but also enterprise analytics and generative models. The pharmaceutical company MSD is building a strong team in Prague and expanding its capacity for developing advanced AI products, RAG and cloud technologies. It is therefore looking for experts at all levels – from juniors to senior developers and data scientists.

US-based Coupa acquires Czech startup Rossum

The acquisition builds on a partnership between the two companies that has been running since 2024. The AI-powered spend management platform did not disclose the value of the transaction.

Save the Date

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Bruce Schneier is coming to Prague

On Monday 29 June, prg.ai and AISLE are hosting an AI-focused meetup featuring one of the world’s most influential cybersecurity experts: Bruce Schneier. In Prague, he will explore what – and whom – we can trust as AI becomes part of everyday systems and decision-making. Registration is required.

CEE AI Summit: the key event of the autumn

How should Central and Eastern Europe tackle AI infrastructure, data access, talent retention and regulatory barriers? That is the focus of the CEE AI Summit, taking place on 3 September and co-organised by the Czech National AI Platform (CNAIP). The headline keynote will be delivered by European Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva. In parallel, a ministerial meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Karel Havlíček will work towards a joint CEE declaration on regional cooperation in AI.

Join HPE Innovation Day

HPE invites you to one of its biggest events in the Czech Republic. The programme connects artificial intelligence, hybrid cloud, security, networking and data infrastructure – and shows how to combine these technologies into solutions that also make business sense. The conference takes place on 30 September at the O2 Universum.

MAMA AI Academy returns

How do voicebots, document processing and modern language models work? Find out at the full-day MAMA AI Academy workshop on 16 June. Participants will get hands-on experience with voice technologies, text processing and large language models.

Read, Seen & Heard

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111 days on the other side of the fence

What is it like to swap the leadership of prg.ai for the role of Government Commissioner for AI? In the DataTalk podcast, Lukáš Kačena looks back at his first months in office and talks about AI in schools, hospitals and public administration, the Czech AI Gigafactory, and the ambition to become the region’s leader in AI development. Well worth a listen.

Europe depends on infrastructure it doesn’t own

That was one of the lines heard at the Impact’26 conference in Poznań. Government Commissioner for AI Lukáš Kačena joined the Economics of AI panel. The discussion, covering European models, chips and investment, is available online.

AI that reads between the lines

How can AI help you understand your clients better? In a new TechTalk from DataSentics, Viliam Korenko shows how the CIQ system analyses communication across channels and helps detect important signals in customer relationships before it is too late. If the topic interests you, a recording of the recent webinar on the AI Communication Inspector tool, demonstrating a similar use of AI in practice, is also available.

A hundred-million milestone for Czech firm APOCO

The Havlena brothers founded APOCO as recently as 2020. Today they work mainly for clients in the US; last year they reached a turnover of CZK 67 million, and this year they are heading for the CZK 100 million mark. In an interview for Euro, they describe building a technology company that wants to be a partner from the very start of product development.

Learning Curve

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A Fulbright for an FEE CTU student

Ondřej Štogl, a doctoral student at FEE CTU, has been awarded a Fulbright scholarship and will head to Stanford University in the autumn. His research focuses on Vehicle-to-Grid technology, which allows electric-car batteries to be used not only for driving but also to help stabilise the power grid. California is the ideal place for this research: thanks to its high share of photovoltaics and electric vehicles, it is already facing problems that Europe may encounter in the future.

AI in the hunt for new molecules

Denys Boyko, a student at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University, uses generative AI to search for new molecules that could one day find applications in medicine. His work is also a fine example of inter-university collaboration – it is supervised by Josef Šivic of CTU, with Roman Bushuiev, also of CTU, as co-supervisor.

The Czechia seeks its first AI champions

Prague hosted a regional round of the first AI Olympiad for secondary school students. The winning team, AIAIAI from the Jan Kepler Grammar School, impressed with a solution for the optimal placement of charging stations for electric cars. If they succeed in the national final on 22 June, they will represent the Czech Republic at the international round in Astana, Kazakhstan. prg.ai director Lenka Kučerová sat on the jury and shared her impressions on LinkedIn.

Your own AI tool before the summer ends

FIT CTU is opening a summer school of applied AI for secondary school students who want to do more than write prompts. They will learn how LLMs work under the bonnet and how to design a functional solution architecture. Instead of a certificate for the drawer, they will take home a working AI tool and experience with real code.

Birch or pine?

That is the question FIT CTU student Markéta Hošmánková is trying to answer. In her project, she investigates which tree species will thrive in a landscape affected by climate change. The results could help foresters decide which trees to plant today so that forests can withstand future conditions.

No more sending QR codes between friends

Twenty-four hours was all a team of FIT CTU students needed to build an app solving the bane of most group trips: settling up. The AI in the app reads a receipt, recognises the individual items and, thanks to linked cards, immediately charges everyone the right amount. The project took home two awards from the Hack Košice 2026 hackathon.

Robotics takes over Prague for a week

CTU will host the seventh edition of the IEEE RAS Summer School this year. The summer school brings together researchers, students and practitioners interested in the future of multi-robot systems. Applications are already open on the event website.

48 hours is enough

The adventure game After the Rain tells the story of mushrooms racing to save their colony before a mushroom picker collects them all. The work of FIT CTU students took gold at the 48-hour Easter GameJam.

Why can’t Facebook decline the name René?

It is precisely these kinds of linguistic slip-ups that interest Tomáš Sourada of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at Charles University, winner of the Bernard Bolzano Endowment Fund award for computer science. His research explores how to better evaluate systems for automatic declension and conjugation across languages. In other words: how to teach computers to speak a little more naturally.

Wanted

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And one last thing…

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The Czech and Slovak Commissioners for AI have agreed to share the capacity of an AI gigafactory if the Czech bid succeeds. The memorandum is due to be signed at the CEE AI Summit in September.

The Industry 4.0 Open Day focused on getting new technologies out of the lab and into companies faster. It is precisely the ability to turn innovation into practice that may decide the competitiveness of Czech industry. More on the website.

This year marks 100 years since the birth of Petr Sgall, one of the founders of formal and computational linguistics in the Czech Republic. The name of the long-serving lecturer at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics is associated with, among other things, the development of machine translation systems.

Blindspot AI has a new leader: current CTO Petr Zelenka takes over, replacing Ondřej Vaněk, who co-founded the company and led it for more than ten years.

FIT CTU has opened an extraordinary admissions round for the Master’s programmes in Quantum Informatics and Informatics Teacher Training for Secondary Schools. Applications can be submitted until 14 August.

Apify has unveiled MCP connectors, which turn its tools (Actors) from mere web-data-collection bots into fully fledged automation agents.