The Year 2025 at AI Chamber: The Voice of the CEE Region in an Era of Breakthroughs 

The year 2025 was the year the AI Chamber really took off as a voice of the CEE AI ecosystem – it was a time of intense work, key debates, and building a strong position for Central and Eastern Europe on the global AI map. From Brussels to Sofia, from hard data to philosophical disputes – we tried to be present wherever the fate of technology was being discussed and decided.

Here is a few key issues and events that defined our last 12 months:

1️⃣ Legislation and Advocacy – Fighting against EU “spaghetti law”

• The end of the year brought a heated discussion around the “Digital Omnibus” package: in December, together with 12 organizations from the region, we issued an Open Letter, appealing for the strengthening of the European Commission’s proposal. 
• We don’t shy away from difficult topics: from the analysis of the “Digital Omnibus” and its impact on GDPR (“GDPR Brussels Matrix”), to the defense of SMEs lost in the thicket of AI Act regulations (“Lost in legal language”). 
• We successfully promoted the vision of joint CEE AI Gigafactories – we believe that CEE needs one strong infrastructural proposition to count in the global race. We were very happy to see Czechia join the PL-Baltics bid, but alarmed to see the EC change the rules half way through the process. 

2️⃣ Events – Connecting Science, Business, Culture and Politics 

Our presence at the most important forums: 

• We organised an event on the sidelines of the Digital Summit in Gdańsk in June – as a venue to bring together our partners from across the region and discuss the prospects of CEE SMEs on the basis of our report. 
• We held a number of successful Oxford debates on hot topics: the last one in December at Kino Kultura tackled the question  “Is culture created by AI not real culture?” We showed that technology is also a humanistic challenge. 
• We were the voice of the region at the Forbes CEE Forum and the Bled Strategic Forum, as well as during Digital Horizons in Sofia.

3️⃣ Knowledge and Data – Diagnosing the Market  

• We continue to promote our CEE AI Action Plan as a signpost for decision-makers, indicating 5 pillars of development (infrastructure, data, human capital, regulations, financing). 
• We published a report on SMEs in the CEE region – hard data on how (and if) small companies are finding their way in the world of AI and regulations.

All this couldn’t have happened without the help and support of a great number of people. We would like to extend our warmest regards and a huge thank you to all our members and partners for this past year! 2026 promises to be equally exciting – we are not slowing down. If you are not a member – consider joining us for this epic journey that may help shape our common future.