Seznam.cz introduces its own ChatGPT equivalent. It aims to facilitate orientation on the Czech internet, but it can do more

After half a year of testing within a small circle, Seznam.cz is opening its own equivalent of popular tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude, called Assistant, to all logged-in users. This is not a marginal experiment – the chatbot is located directly on the homepage of the most visited Czech website and presents itself as a domestic response to the global AI wave.

It’s not just a smarter search engine, even if it presents itself as one

Seznam primarily presents the Assistant as a smarter search engine, designed to understand natural language without the need for keywords and to provide answers backed by a larger number of information sources.

„Our goal is for the Assistant to save people time, meaning it should be able to understand the query, go through relevant information, and provide a clear, summarized answer with source citations. In its current version, it will help people quickly navigate a large amount of information and news,“ explained Radoslav Mikeš, Seznam Assistant Product Lead, in November.

However, similar to competing solutions, as we ourselves tested, Seznam Assistant can, for example, write Python code for a calculator with a primitive user interface or create a summary of an article that you provide to it. So, although most users will likely only use it as a search engine on steroids, it also has more advanced capabilities (and as a result, it resembles ChatGPT more than, say, Perplexity).

You can try Seznam Assistant on the Seznam.cz homepage, where the query field now offers a switch between Search and Assistant, as well as in search results, in the Seznam mobile application, or on the dedicated website asistent.seznam.cz. There is only one condition – you must be logged in with your Seznam account.

Built on its own model, but sometimes asks for help elsewhere

The technological heart is the family of proprietary language models SeLLMa (a pun combining Seznam with the acronym for large language model). The model is based on Meta’s Llama 3.1 architecture, but Seznam has significantly retrained it on a Czech language corpus from academic data and the content of its own websites. According to earlier information, the company invested over 100 million Czech crowns in its development.

For more complex queries, the Assistant currently relies on Azure OpenAI models running in Microsoft’s European data centers. This is also confirmed by Seznam’s own legal documentation. The long-term goal is to operate the entire system exclusively on proprietary models and hardware – but this is not yet the case.

Who it makes sense for – and who it probably doesn’t

Seznam Assistant is not aiming for a direct battle with OpenAI or Google in terms of raw performance. Its domain is integration with the Czech ecosystem – weather, timetables, goods, businesses, and sports all in one place and in one dialogue. For a typical user who deals with domestic queries and wants data within the EU, it is a practical and free option. Peter Pekarovič from Seznam AI division states that the ratio of positive feedback is already approaching 90%, although for a product in its early stages, this number should be taken with a grain of salt.

However, compromises exist, and it’s fair to name them. The tool runs in beta mode, so you might encounter minor bugs and occasional outages. For complex tasks like programming or more demanding creative writing, even though it’s theoretically capable, don’t expect the level of the latest global models – and the partial reliance on OpenAI also somewhat undermines the story of a purely Czech alternative. Those who need top-tier reasoning will still reach for ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude. But for navigating the Czech internet and everyday queries, Seznam offers a domestic tool that makes sense.

Will you give Seznam Assistant a chance instead of ChatGPT, or will you stick with global competitors?

Sources: Seznam (1, 2, 3, 4), E15.cz, own