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Structure and Activities of the Programme

The programme AI: Artificial Intelligence for Science and Society is one of the 15 ongoing programmes of Strategy AV21. It is the largest among them in terms of the number of participating institutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS). The programme is structured into five thematic areas, within which specific activities are being carried out (see the overview below). The implementation of the programme began on January 1, 2025, and is scheduled to run until December 31, 2029.

General Information about the Programme

Aims of the Programme

  • To foster high-quality research in selected areas of artificial intelligence and machine learning.
  • To support the application of AI/ML methods in research across various scientific disciplines.
  • To coordinate AI-related activities across CAS institutes, provide institutional support, and foster more efficient and intensive collaboration among them.
  • To strengthen education and the development of human resources in AI, including the support of young talents and cooperation with Czech and international universities.
  • To systematically map AI-related activities within CAS institutes and, based on that, to promote collaboration with academia and industry and create conditions for effective knowledge transfer.
  • To contribute to the public perception of the Czech Academy of Sciences as a key player in the field of AI, both nationally and internationally.

Participating Institutes

  • Institute of Information Theory and Automation of the CAS
  • Institute of Philosophy of the CAS
  • Institute of Physics of the CAS
  • Astronomical Institute of the CAS
  • Institute of Biotechnology of the CAS
  • Institute of Ethnology of the CAS
  • Masaryk Institute and Archives of the CAS
  • Institute of Mathematics of the CAS
  • Institute of Psychology of the CAS
  • Institute of Slavonic Studies of the CAS
  • Institute of Sociology of the CAS
  • Institute of Analytical Chemistry of the CAS
  • Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the CAS
  • Institute of experimental Medicine of the CAS
  • Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the CAS
  • Institute of Physics of Materials of the CAS
  • Institute of Geonics of the CAS
  • Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the CAS
  • Institute of Czech Literature of the CAS
  • Institute of Hydrodynamics of the CAS
  • Czech Language Institute of the CAS
  • Institute of Contemporary History of the CAS
  • Institute of Scientific Instruments of the CAS
  • Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of the CAS
  • Institute of Thermomechanics of the CAS
  • Oriental Institute of the CAS

Tree Structure of the Programme

Topic 1: Research in AI

Coordinator: Barbara Zitová (Institute of Information Theory and Automation, CAS)

  • Activity 1.1: Development of Markov and neural models for multivariate data representation (Michal Haindl, ÚTIA)
  • Activity 1.2: Optimization of AI architectures for resource-constrained environments (Filip Šroubek, ÚTIA)
  • Activity 1.3: Transparent deep probabilistic model (Václav Šmídl, ÚTIA)
  • Activity 1.4: Design of experiments (Václav Šmídl, ÚTIA)
  • Activity 1.5: Deepfake detection (Jan Kotera, ÚTIA)
  • Activity 1.6: Artificial intelligence: conditional independence structures and their application in the humanities (Jiří Vomlel, ÚTIA)
  • Activity 1.7: Symbolic machine learning (Stefan Ratschan, ICS)
  • Activity 1.8: Energy consumption of deep neural networks (Jiří Šíma, ICS)
  • Activity 1.9: Large language models in agent-based simulations of human communication (Roman Neruda, ICS)
  • Activity 1.10: Adaptation of neural network architectures for signal analysis (Filip Plešinger, ISI)
  • Activity 1.11: Logic and artificial intelligence (Ondrej Majer, IPH)

Topic 2: Social Aspects of AI

Coordinator: Vít Gvoždiak (Institute of Philosophy, CAS)

Activity 2.1: AI in energy and decarbonization (Martin Tremčinský, IS)
Activity 2.2: AI in medicine and healthcare (Tereza Stöckelová, IS)
Activity 2.3: Centre for Philosophy of Mind and Artificial Intelligence (Tomáš Marvan, IPH)
Activity 2.4: Hate speech, AI, and the digital world (Tomáš Koblížek, IPH)
Activity 2.5: Pragmatic aspects of utterances and LLMs (Vít Gvoždiak, IPH)
Activity 2.6: Trustworthy AI: the principle of non-maleficence (Tomáš Hříbek, IPH)
Activity 2.7: Music, society, and artificial intelligence (Matěj Kratochvíl, IE)
Activity 2.8: International workshop on “AI in Economics and Finance” (Jozef Baruník, ÚTIA)
Activity 2.9: AI in translation lexicography – possibilities and limits (Jana Kocková, ISS)
Activity 2.10: Generative AI in art and literature (Karel Piorecký, ICL)
Activity 2.11: The rise of IT in historical perspective: from its establishment in the 1990s to contemporary AI challenges (Lenka Krátká, ICH)
Activity 2.12: Application of AI in audio description: evaluation of synthetic voice by blind users (Petr Kaderka, CLI)

Topic 3: AI in Science

Coordinator: Petra Vidnerová (Institute of Computer Science, CAS)

  • Activity 3.1: AI for understanding enzyme function and the design of new enzymes (Tomáš Pluskal, IOCB)
  • Activity 3.2: Machine learning methods for quantum state tomography: analysis of entanglement among qubits (Pavel Baláž, IP)
  • Activity 3.3: Database of artificial images for memory experiments (Filip Děchtěrenko, IPsy)
  • Activity 3.4: Applications of AI in computational materials science (Martin Friák, IPM)
  • Activity 3.5: Demonstrator: AI-based detection of bearing wear using acoustic emission (Milan Chlada, IT)
  • Activity 3.6: Fertility, sexual promiscuity, reproductive health: AI for studying sperm morphology and quality in birds (and other vertebrates) (Jana Albrechtová, IVB)
  • Activity 3.7: Hybrid AI system for control of industrial processes (Jan Haidl, IHY)
  • Activity 3.8: Artificial intelligence in archival research (Soňa Martinovská, MIA)
  • Activity 3.9: AI-supported database applications for biological data processing (Pavel Rössner, IEM)
  • Activity 3.10: Artificial neural networks for nanoparticle and molecule counting (Antonín Hlaváček, IAC)
  • Activity 3.11: AI functionality for the HistoryLab educational app (Vítězslav Sommer, ICH)
  • Activity 3.12: Pilot study: unlocking the potential of the underutilised mathematical corpus (Igor Khavkine, IM)
  • Activity 3.13: Forest fire classification using spatiotemporal satellite data processing (David Horák, IGN)
  • Activity 3.14: Neural networks for analysing neuron migration during brain development (Gabriela Pavlínková, IBT)
  • Activity 3.15: Detection of electromagnetic waves in Earth’s plasma environment (Benjamin Grison, IAP)
  • Activity 3.16: AI\@AI – Artificial Intelligence at the Astronomical Institute (Václav Pavlík, AI)
  • Activity 3.17: AI in continuum mechanics (Martin Kružík, ÚTIA)
  • Activity 3.18: AI for hypothesis verification in physics and astronomy data (František Hakl, ICS)
  • Activity 3.19: Opportunities and challenges of graph neural networks for multimodal analysis of neuroimaging data in schizophrenia (Dominik Klepl, ICS)

Topic 4: AI HUB

Coordinator: Martin Víta (Institute of Computer Science, CAS)

  • Activity 4.1: Mapping AI within CAS (Martin Víta, ICS)
  • Activity 4.2: AI at CAS for the (expert) public (Martin Víta, ICS)
  • Activity 4.3: Matchmaking for Research Area 3 (Vít Gvoždiak, IPH)
  • Activity 4.4: AI in biomedical disciplines – retrospective and perspectives (Alexandre Beber, IBT)
  • Activity 4.5: AI in science communication via social media (Klára Horová, IP)
  • Activity 4.6: AI: The Researcher’s Assistant (Barbara Zitová, ÚTIA)
  • Activity 4.7: Knowledge Café (Reysa Alenzuela, OI)

Topic 5: AI for the Young Generation – Internships in Academia and Industry

Coordinator: Alexandr Dejneka (Institute of Physics, CAS)

  • Talent development in practice (Petra Kratochvílová, IP)
  • Training and education (Alexandr Dejneka, IP)
  • Student internships at IT (Patrik Zima, IT)
  • Student internships at ITAM (Daniel Kytýř, ITAM)
  • Researchers for students (Roman Neruda, ICS)
  • Student internships at ÚTIA – advanced AI algorithms (Barbara Zitová, ÚTIA)
  • Software integration of AI and quantum computing (Martin Friák, IPM)