Who we are

About the Institute

We are a non-partisan, non-governmental research organisation. We accept no state funding. Our only obligation is to intellectual honesty.

THE MOMENT WE'RE IN

We believe it is time AI's reasoning power was turned toward one of the most consequential domains of all: governance.

For too long, the complexity of public budgets, the opacity of spending decisions, and the labyrinthine nature of policy trade-offs have served as a de facto shield for waste, inefficiency, and politically convenient obfuscation. Most citizens cannot read a 43 781 Mrd Ft budget. Most journalists cannot cross-reference 42 chapters of line items against a coherent economic framework. This complexity is not neutral — it protects those who benefit from it.

AI changes this equation. Not by making decisions for us — it cannot and should not. Democratic legitimacy rests on human choice, human values, and human accountability. But AI can now do what no human team previously could: read everything, apply a consistent analytical framework to every line item, model the consequences of every proposed change, and present the results in a form that citizens, journalists, and policymakers can actually engage with.

AI cannot tell us what we should value. But it can show us — with unprecedented clarity and rigour — the short and long-term consequences of the choices we make.

In a democracy, that is enough to change everything.

Mission

Our Purpose

The Szabad Társadalom Kutatóintézet — Free Society Institute — was founded to fill a critical gap in Hungarian public discourse: the absence of credible, independently funded research grounded in market economics and classical liberal philosophy.

We believe that a well-informed citizenry is the ultimate check on overreaching government. Our publications are freely available to all Hungarians, and our analyses are designed to be accessible to the educated layperson as well as the specialist.

Government Technology

Pioneering AI-Assisted Policy Analysis

We believe the intersection of artificial intelligence and public policy analysis is one of the most consequential frontiers in democratic governance. For the first time in history, it is possible for a small independent team — without government funding, without a staff of hundreds — to produce the kind of comprehensive, rigorous, consistent analysis of public expenditure that was previously available only to state institutions or large, well-funded organisations. We intend to show what this looks like in practice.

Our 2026 Hungarian budget analysis is a proof of concept: 42 chapters, thousands of line items, structured data output, demographic impact briefs, and a master policy synthesis — produced by a coordinated system of AI agents applying a consistent analytical framework. We are building toward a model that could be deployed in any country, for any budget cycle, by any civil society organisation committed to transparency and evidence-based reform. The tools of rigorous policy scrutiny should not be the exclusive preserve of those in power.

Read our full methodology

The people

Our Team

Fehér Balázs, PhD

Founder & Executive Director

Balázs Fehér is an AI researcher and data scientist with over a decade of experience building and deploying enterprise machine learning systems for global institutions, including HSBC, Deloitte UK, Mastercard, and the Wellcome Trust. He holds a PhD in Cognitive Science and serves as the Managing Director of the London-based AI consultancies Neural Machines and Deep Policies.

A dedicated scholar and translator of Austrian economics and classical liberal thought since 2016, Balázs founded the Free Society Institute to bridge the gap between cutting-edge technology and public policy. By combining his intellectual passion for free markets with modern AI capabilities, he architected the first comprehensive, AI-assisted audit of Hungary's national budget.

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Research Collaborators

Contributing Fellows (Open Positions)

We are building a team of economists, data scientists, and policy researchers who share our commitment to rigorous, principled analysis. If you have relevant expertise and want to contribute, get in touch.

Foundation

Core Principles

Our work is guided by four principles drawn from the Austrian School of Economics and classical liberal political philosophy.

Spontaneous Order

Markets, law, and social norms emerge from voluntary human interaction, not central design. We analyse how top-down interventions disrupt the price signals and local knowledge that allow complex economies to coordinate.

Sound Money & Fiscal Responsibility

Inflation is a covert tax. Deficit spending mortgages future generations. We advocate for balanced budgets, monetary restraint, and transparent fiscal rules that protect individual purchasing power.

Rule of Law & Equality Before It

Prosperity requires predictable, impartially enforced rules that apply equally to governments and citizens alike. We scrutinise legislation and regulation for consistency with this principle.

Individual Liberty & Private Property

The right to own, use, and transfer property peacefully is the foundation of both economic and personal freedom. We oppose state confiscation, excessive licensing, and regulatory takings in all their forms.

Szabad Társadalom Kutatóintézet

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