New AI Department Structure
The Czech National Bank (ČNB) has established a dedicated artificial intelligence department within its IT section. The unit consolidates AI and machine-learning activities that were previously dispersed across several divisions. Janis Aliapulios, formerly an adviser to the ČNB Bank Board and coordinator of the ČNB Lab innovation hub, leads the new department. Its mandate covers accelerating the rollout of AI tools across all bank units, setting implementation priorities, and ensuring the highest level of data protection and security. The department was created by reorganising existing capacity without increasing total headcount.
Previous AI Experiments and Infrastructure
ČNB has been testing AI models for some time. In 2025 the bank evaluated Grok and OpenAI models for inflation forecasting, and used AI to process the surge of requests arising from the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation (MiCA). To support this work ČNB procured its own servers equipped with high-performance Nvidia graphics cards. The move signals a shift from experimentation to operational deployment in a core financial institution.
Workforce Impact and Budget Priorities
Governor Aleš Michl stated that productivity gains from AI and related technologies have already allowed the central bank to reduce staff by five percent. “We let them go because our work can be done more productively,” Michl said in an interview on the ČNB website. “At the same time we have given an unlimited budget to cybersecurity and the technologies into which we are now investing massively. Employees will get the most modern equipment and must work diligently so that we can guarantee low inflation to the public and build the bank on artificial intelligence.”
Security and Data Protection Focus
Beyond deployment, the new department will address security and data-protection questions. ČNB emphasises that the restructuring does not increase overall headcount but concentrates existing expertise into a single team. The approach reflects the bank’s obligation to meet stringent regulatory requirements for data handling and operational resilience in the financial sector.
Implications for Financial Sector AI Governance
The creation of a specialised AI unit inside a national central bank illustrates how EU financial regulators are moving from ad hoc pilots to structured governance. For organisations supplying AI audit, deployment or compliance services, ČNB’s framework, combining measurable benefits, strict data protection and dedicated cybersecurity funding, may become a reference model. The case also shows how MiCA implementation is driving practical AI adoption in supervisory workflows, a pattern likely to repeat across other EU member states.