Neural language models are the driving force behind technologies that are currently transforming the way millions of people work around the world. Yet this is a field in which the latest findings are only just finding their way into textbooks. As part of the series Informatics evenings, faculty alumnus Ing. Zdeněk Kasner, Ph.D. will present one of the most cutting-edge fields in contemporary computer science and explain why teaching this subject has become part of the curriculum at FIT CTU. The lecture will be held in Czech.
The talk will focus on what everyone now colloquially refers to as ‘AI’ or ‘artificial intelligence’, but which is in fact only a small subset of AI: neural language models. From an unassuming field of research – the intersection of computational linguistics and neural networks – a technology has emerged over the course of a few years that is fundamentally changing the way we work, study and communicate. It is precisely this field that Ing. Zdeněk Kasner, Ph.D., a graduate of the FIT CTU, has been focusing on since 2019 as part of his research at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University.
Much of the knowledge gained in recent years is so new and unestablished that it has not yet been incorporated into textbooks. This makes it all the more important for both current and future IT specialists to be familiar with it. That is why he decided to establish an optional module at FIT, CTU, entitled Neural Language Models (NI-NLM), which was first taught in the summer semester of 2025/2026. What did students learn on this course, and why is it definitely worth enrolling on it? And why should we take an interest in this field right now?