We’re proud to share that Maty Boháček, a Brown Institute grantee and Stanford computer science student, has been awarded a Silver Medal by the President of the Czech Senate. The prestigious honor was presented on September 28, 2025, at a ceremony in Prague’s Valdštejn Palace marking the Day of Czech Statehood.
Boháček was one of just 20 individuals recognized this year by Senate President Miloš Vystrčil for outstanding contributions to Czech society. He received the medal “for seeking truth and new paths in the digital world” (Za hledání pravdy a nových cest v digitálním světě).
The ceremony and award honors exceptional figures in science, arts, sports, and public service whose work strengthens democratic and open society. In his remarks, President Vystrčil emphasized that the award recognizes those “for whom meeting, dialogue, and helping others are an integral part of their lives.”
Boháček’s Brown Institute grant focuses on creativity and ownership at the intersection of artificial intelligence and journalism. Together with Sally Herships (the Director of Audio Program at Columbia Journalism School) and Mark Fiore (Pulitzer Prize-winning visual journalist and a 2024 Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford), he is developing Pali—a suite of AI tools that allows artists to train models on their own body of work, maintaining control over their creative output. The first application is an investigative podcast about tax fraud in the United States, a complex topic that needs strong illustration and animation to make it accessible. While the tax fraud investigation serves as the pilot, the framework is designed to work across different forms of journalism and beyond—anywhere creators want to use AI without giving up ownership of their style and work.
His medal reflects his broader contributions to AI research and innovation—work that includes critically examining how these technologies can be responsibly deployed in real-world settings. Projects like Pali exemplify this approach: rigorously testing what’s possible with emerging technology while maintaining the standards journalism demands.
Congratulations to Maty on this well-deserved honor!
More about the award can be found at the official Senate site and on Seznam Zprávy.