In the heart of Bratislava, under scorching central European summer sun, more than 200 students from around the world gathered – not for sightseeing, but for deep reasoning, Bayesian optimisation, and discussions on machine ethics.
At the beginning of July, Bratislava hit several highs, and not just gruelling 36-degree Celsius mid-day temperatures. Inside the cool halls of the Slovak University of Technology’s Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies, the European Summer School on Artificial Intelligence 2025 – or ESSAI – was booted up and buzzing with innovation.
Organised under the auspices of the European Association for Artificial Intelligence, more commonly known as EurAI, and in collaboration with Slovak civic partners such as AI4SK, ESSAI returned for its third edition – this time hosted in our capital city.
Between muted chatter about the latest large language models and the rhythmic clacking of laptop keys, I spoke with local chairs Professor Peter Drotár from the Technical University in Košice and Project Manager Viera Bordoy from the Slovak University of Technology. They shared insights into the summer school, the state and potential of the AI industry in Slovakia, and what ESSAI means for the country’s role in Europe’s AI future.
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Viera Bordoy: “ESSAI stands for European Summer School on AI and it is a project or product of activities of the European Association of the AI Specialists throughout Europe. They represent the most renowned academics and scientists in this line – and this is the result of their activities. They’ve organised conferences and wanted to do something extra for students, so this is the third year of ESSAI and we (Bratislava) have been awarded with the right to organise this. We are very happy about it; we have been fighting for this right to organise for about three years.”
Previously held in Ljubljana and Athens, ESSAI arrived in Bratislava last week, welcoming students, early-career researchers, and leading experts to a packed programme of lectures and tutorials. Sessions were led by academics from top European institutions, including the University of Oxford, the University of Groningen, and Sapienza University of Rome – as well as from tech hubs beyond Europe, including the US, Canada, and Australia.
Peter Drotár: “I’m especially happy about the timing of the European Summer School on AI and that it’s happening here in Bratislava at a time when AI is gaining momentum and is becoming very popular. Students, master students, PhD students can get deeper knowledge from world-renowned experts and can attend a lot of different lectures on different aspects of AI.”
As Professor Peter Drotár of the Technical University of Košice noted, currently we find ourselves at a peak in AI “hype,” stimulated by the proliferation of generative AI chatbots, such as ChatGPT and Gemini. At the same time traditional news outlets are dedicating reportage programs about AI developments, while social media is filled with speculation and concerns about jobs and automation, meanwhile tech giants like Meta and OpenAI are racing to monetise the latest algorithms.
At a European-level, the EU, responding to these concerns, has adopted a key role in aiming to build “trustworthy” AI through legislation such as the landmark 2024 AI Act. Whilst initiatives like ESSAI are where that culture of responsible innovation begins.
Peter Drotár: “I think that this diversification happened naturally. It stems from the fact that here in Europe we do not care only about this technological part but there is a lot of discussion about the ethical and legal aspects of AI and how we should handle the fast development of AI. That’s why we have all of these different courses because here in Europe we think about not only the technology, but also about what this technology brings.”
Rather than follow a rigid curriculum, and reflecting both on the summer school’s ethos and Europe’s broader approach to AI, participants were able to choose from a variety of learning paths – including explainable AI, robust machine learning, or AI for autonomous systems, and more.
And it wasn’t just academics who took interest, ESSAI attracted the private sector, with businesses joining the conversation.
Viera Bordoy: “This year we tried to also bring on board more people from the businesses. We even got a few companies – even from Slovakia – who are developing AI. They are also finding some tracks, some interesting topics from the practical point of view, which are beneficial to them.”
Slovakia has long ranked low in EU’s Digital Economy and Society Index – placing 23rd out of 27 Member States in 2022. With a manufacturing-heavy economy and a long-standing and ongoing brain drain of skilled Slovak researchers leaving the country, initiatives like ESSAI aim to reverse the trend. This is the first in-person partnership between Slovakia and the European Association for Artificial Intelligence – and the hope is that it won’t be the last.
Viera Bordoy: “It is supposed to bring the specialists into Slovakia and also show them that Slovakia really is a place where have a lot of good people – a lot of AI specialists – who can be a contribution to an international society of AI. It is also beneficial for our students who are mingling and interacting with the other participants. So, it’s about trying to enhance the international cooperation, which is very important.”
Peter Drotár: “One of the core organisers is AI4SK, this is a civic society that is a member of EurAI, so there definitely are some grounds for collaboration. I believe that by organising this summer school we proved that we are not just some static members, but that we can contribute to these EurAI activities.”
In a summer full of big questions about AI’s future, Bratislava is making its case to be part of the answer. With new AI start-ups and events like ESSAI, Slovakia isn’t just paying attention, but it’s eager to take part.
Though Slovakia is not – and is never likely to be – a major AI hub, its research ecosystem is growing, fostered by initiatives like ESSAI. Visibility like these matters, especially for students and researchers who hope to stay and work in Slovakia.
Peter Drotár: “AI is happening and we cannot ignore it. One piece of the puzzle is to organise the summer school related to AI – the conferences related to AI. But we also need to think about the infrastructure, about the high-performance computers that need to be built, how to develop some more AI-focused specialised programs, and how to support not only research but also development in AI areas. The summer school is one piece of the puzzle and we hope that there will be more pieces that can be put together to form some nice picture of Slovakia on the European AI map.”
Viera Bordoy: “We are very small and the infrastructure still needs a lot of development when it comes to the digital technologies and so on. But they should not forget us – I mean Europe and the international AI community – they should know about us. We want to be a part of this movement; we want to be a part of the AI development.”
Thank you to Professor Drotár and Project Manager Bordoy for introducing ESSAI 2025. As both made clear, Slovakia may still be building up its infrastructure, but it’s already laying strong foundations. That ESSAI – now in its third edition – was hosted in Bratislava is no coincidence. It reflects the country’s growing interest in AI, from both academia and industry, and a clear ambition not to fall behind.
So, while much of Europe was on holiday, Bratislava became a classroom. And maybe, for a brief moment, the capital of Europe’s AI future.
