Czech Road to Artificial Intelligence: A New Tiger Emerging in Central Europe?

Abstract

Summary In 2019 Czech Republic adopted a very ambitious national strategy on Artificial Intelligence (AI) with the vision of becoming a model example in Europe – a country of robots using safe and responsible AI. However, despite the adoption of many strategic documents, the Czech Republic remains at the level well comparable with other countries in the region. This article is providing an overview of the key documents, which marked the Czech way to AI and then confronting rather a positive image of the country with empirical findings, especially represented by the Government AI Readiness Index by Oxford Insights. The aim of the article is to provide a complex picture of the country in relation to Artificial intelligence, highlight most important milestones and discuss areas for the improvement. The author concludes that the Czech Republic is merely a „paper tiger“ with well-prepared background for AI, but just with a few areas of excellence.