From VŠE to Google DeepMind: CEMS graduate Eliška Vorel leads development of key features of Gemini (Interview with Hospodářské noviny)

The CEMS study program at VŠE opens doors to an international career. A great example is our graduate Eliška Vorel, who today works at Google DeepMind in San Francisco as a senior product manager for Gemini, one of the most important AI models of today.

Eliška works in the team that determines the vision and strategy of Gemini, and works closely with researchers, developers, and designers to ensure that the technology used by hundreds of millions of people every day is accessible and useful for everyone. She herself says that her role is “like conducting an orchestra”. She described her career journey in detail in an interview with Hospodářské noviny (interview in Czech).

From VŠE to LSE to Silicon Valley

CEMS at VŠE was the beginning of her journey. During the program, she spent a study stay at the London School of Economics, where she first came into contact with Google:

“CEMS opened doors for me. Without it, I would not have gotten to LSE and Google might never have met me.”

This was followed by an internship in the Pixel marketing team, the first job in Silicon Valley and a gradual transition to product management.

Through parental leave to DeepMind

She got the role at DeepMind during parental leave. She prepared very carefully for the selection – and it paid off. Today, she has the opportunity to work alongside global leaders such as Google co-founder Sergey Brin or Demis Hassabis, co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind and winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Inspiration for current students

Eliška often emphasizes that there are no limits – and that technical and career ceilings are only in the head.

According to her, AI is fundamentally changing education and work:

“AI makes learning more efficient, working with information or notes or sorting. Thanks to AI, students can focus on understanding the material, go more in-depth, because routine work will be taken over by AI. And use the saved time for further research. Just as mathematicians once no longer had to write everything down on paper by hand, AI gives a group of students the opportunity to move forward. I would not demonize new technologies in this. And most importantly, what would be the point? They are already here with us, they are not going to disappear, and we should deal with the situation with a positive attitude and make the most of it.”

Her journey shows that a combination of motivation, quality studies and international experience can lead to the top of the technological world.

Full interview in Czech here.