Czech village wows country with first digital mayor

He doesn’t eat, sleep or get paid. He’s always in a good mood, ready to help, knows all the answers and never goes on holiday. Meet Czechia’s first digital mayor –whose arrival attracted both journalists and real-life mayors from around the country this week.   

Ratiboř, a village in the Zlin region, has become the first municipality in the Czech Republic to introduce a life-sized digital twin of its mayor. A perfect copy of the real-life mayor –including haircut and wedding ring - the twin mayor can answer residents’ questions and even tries to emulate the mayor’s sense of humor.

Real mayor Martin Žabčík : Do you like plum brandy?

Digital twin: That’s something I can help you with. Give me brandy over beer any day!

Real mayor: Maybe he knows too much about me.

They are like two peas in a pod. The digital one was created by AI Produkce. Martin Gazda from the said company, said the team worked hard to have the digital twin mirror the mayor’s speech and personality as closely as possible.

“We had to study the mayor’s personality in great detail —his choice of words, his sense of humor, whether he speaks in longer or shorter sentences—and then transfer that personality into the digital system,” he explains.

AI|Photo illustrative: Tumisu, Pixabay, Pixabay License

Right now the country’s first AI mayor is a source of amusement to both journalists and locals, who  put him to the test with tricky questions. In the days to come his main task will be to provide information to residents about local life and municipal matters. And, of course, his advice must be 100 percent reliable, Martin Gazda says.

“The AI either waits for information from municipality employees or uses trusted sources to ensure accuracy and relevance. We make sure it doesn’t generate false information,” Gazda says.

Already most of the locals have come to check him out, among them the mayor’s wife, Lucie Žabčíková, who says she finds her husband’s twin convincing.

“He looks quite natural; there’s nothing about him that really bothers me,” she says.

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One panel with the life-sized digital mayor, will be placed in the lobby of the local administration, another will be installed in the information center.

Mayor Žabčík says he wants to encourage the locals to use it, including seniors who generally shy away from new technologies.

“We’ll present it not only here at the office but also at meetings with seniors and explain how it works, so they’re not afraid to use it. I believe it will help them become more comfortable with these new technologies,” he says.

The AI mayor took two years to develop. Experts from Zlín will now analyze the questions residents ask and continue to improve on his performance.