On Wednesday 12 June 2025, a new AI chatbot was officially launched on the website of the Prague 6 Municipal District to facilitate communication between citizens and the authority. This smart digital assistant was created as part of the international European project CommuniCity, funded by the Horizon Europe programme, in which Prague cooperated as one of the pilot cities. As part of the project's latest call, which focused on the use of artificial intelligence in the public sector, the Prague pilot involved the city's KITT 6 organisation, the Citymind startup and the city's Operátor ICT company, which coordinated the whole process.

Why chatbot and why CommuniCity

As Vladimir Šuvarina, director of the organization KITT 6 from Prague's "Six", explains:

"There are currently a huge number of companies offering AI assistants for public administration. It is not easy to choose a quality, safe and effective solution - often these are overpriced products without clear governance, without taking into account the specific needs of cities or GDPR. By engaging with CommuniCity, we were guaranteed an expert selection of a quality solution, a fast deployment and a transparent process. The result is a chatbot that we are really happy with - it simplifies life for citizens and officials alike."

The project was exceptional not only for its focus on the use of artificial intelligence, but also for its emphasis on participatory development. In the co-creation sessions, employees of the authority from various departments and local politicians actively participated in testing the solution. This resulted in a chatbot optimised to the exact needs of the authority and its users.

How AI chatbot helps residents and the authority

The deployed chatbot acts as an intelligent guide to the authority's website - people can easily and quickly get the information they need without having to navigate through the various pages. Simply type your questions into the chat window and the AI assistant will provide all available information.

The solution also has significant benefits for civil servants, who can focus on a more specialist agenda instead of routine queries thanks to the chatbot. In addition, the chatbot generates reports on the most frequent queries from citizens, providing the authority with valuable data for further service improvement.

Collaboration across sectors

The project successfully brought together key actors from both the public and private sectors. The solution was delivered by the Czech AI startup Citymind, a specialist in the development of urban chatbots. The municipal company Operátor ICT played an important role of coordinator between the Prague 6 authority, the technical contractor and the Finnish coordinators of the CommuniCity project.

"It is great that Prague could be part of the CommuniCity project, which shows how European funds and international cooperation can help to effectively address the specific needs of municipalities. We especially appreciate the participatory process, where the development actively involved the employees of the office and other representatives of the municipality, thanks to which the chatbot was able to be fine-tuned to the exact needs of the locals," said Denisa Pevná, Head of International Cooperation from Operator ICT.

From villages to big cities

Startup Citymind, which developed the chatbot for Prague 6, has extensive experience in creating smart assistants for public administration. It has successfully deployed a similar solution in the South Moravian municipality of Mokrá-Horákov, where it helps residents navigate the municipal agenda and current events, and in many other cities and municipalities. Citymind emphasizes a high level of security, user-friendliness, clear language and easy administration by the authorities.

"We are pleased that thanks to the project and the excellent cooperation of key stakeholders, we were able to deploy our solution in Prague 6 and at the same time demonstrate its replicability on a European scale. We believe that AI inherently belongs in cities, and that is what we are trying to take to the next level through our AI platform with chatbots and dedicated AI agents," said Martin Mikulášek, co-founder of the startup Citymind.

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/citymind/

Website: https://www.citymind.tech/

E-mail: hello@citymind.tech

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