Although artificial intelligence is a global priority, North Macedonia still lacks a legal framework, national strategy and institutional coordination for its implementation. According to the Auditor General's report, none of the 48 projects co-financed from 2018 to 2023 have been implemented in the public sector.
Within five years, over six million euros have been spent in North Macedonia on 48 projects that use artificial intelligence (AI) to solve a problem, but none of them have been implemented in the public sector, the State Audit Office (ESA) announced in its audit report on the possibilities of using AI in the public sector in North Macedonia.
"Although there is no official financial data on public sector investments in AI-related projects, the Government with the budget for the period 2018-2023, in cooperation with the World Bank, through the Fund for Innovation and Technological Development, has co-financed 48 projects involving AI. In 17 sectors, projects have been financed in a total amount of 375,768 thousand denars, or 6,110,044 euros, of which, the amount of co-financing for these projects was 267,104 thousand denars, or 4,343,161 euros," ESA announced.
Five projects are co-financed by the World Bank, five by the joint funds of the World Bank and the state budget, while 38 others are financed by the budget of North Macedonia. The projects belong to the fields of aviation industry, auto/agriculture, veterinary, e-business, energy, health, finance, IT-education, public sector, legal sector, manufacturing and finance.
Although millions of euros have been spent, auditors have found that the public sector is not prepared for the use of artificial intelligence in its activities, while the state has no national strategy or legal framework, budget for development, nor qualified staff for the development of AI.
In 2023, the Government led by Dimitar Kovačevski promoted the first digital assistant based on artificial intelligence, called ADA, with the aim of increasing transparency and improving information on investment opportunities.
"Today this tool is no longer functional, and one of the reasons is the non-extension of the contract with the economic operator that had developed and maintained the application," the audit report states.
ADA was conceived to be the first digital assistant in the public sector in the region and beyond, which would help companies obtain complete information about investment conditions in the country, available 24/7 in Macedonian, Albanian and English.
The Technology Park in Skopje is another project that was announced but has not yet been built. The auditors also found that the open data portal, formalized in 2018, has not been operational since the beginning of 2025, limiting the transparency and innovative potential of the business sector.
Meanwhile, as part of a pilot project for the 112 emergency number, artificial intelligence is being used for real-time analysis and recommendations during emergency calls, but its full implementation is limited due to additional financial requirements and the lack of a legal and technical framework.
The audit report emphasizes that projects like the 112 system, where real-time transcription and translation through artificial intelligence are being tested, require a special assessment of the impact on privacy – a practice that is not yet systematically established.
Although artificial intelligence globally has penetrated many sectors of daily life, according to the auditors, domestic investments in ICT infrastructure for advanced research capacities remain negligible.
"Although 96.99 percent of the population is covered by the 5G network and over 68 percent of households have access to very high-capacity fixed networks, the Republic of North Macedonia still lacks a modern and comprehensive digital infrastructure, which is a prerequisite for the implementation of artificial intelligence. New generations of supercomputers, stable data centers and specialized systems for processing big data are missing, which limits the country's readiness for the use of AI in the public sector," the audit report states.
In North Macedonia, the first projects that used artificial intelligence date back to 2012. Among them is the first full speech synthesizer in the Macedonian language, TTS-MK, which was used as an assistive device in the National Union of the Blind and was funded by the Ministry of Information Society and Administration (MSIA) and the International Telecommunication Union. Also, for the needs of the State School for Rehabilitation of Children and Youth with Visual Impairments "Dimitar Vllahov" - Skopje, an interface for the functionality of a Braille printer was developed by the staff of the Faculty of Informatics at AUE-FON (donation from MSIA and the Government).
In Southeast Europe, Slovenia is the only country with a national strategy for artificial intelligence and ranks first for proactive policies in this area. North Macedonia is in the middle of the list, followed by Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo.
The International Monetary Fund's AI Readiness Index also ranks the country 77th out of 174 countries. According to the State Audit Office, this shows that, while potential exists, major improvements are needed in digital infrastructure, human capital, innovation and economic integration, as well as in regulations and ethics related to artificial intelligence.
The European Union adopted the Artificial Intelligence Law in 2024 – the world's first comprehensive regulation on this technology. The law encourages countries to adopt AI and create conditions to support innovation and investment in this field.
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