North Macedonia's 112 Emergency AI Pilot — Real-Time Call Transcription Stalled by Funding and Legal Gaps

North Macedonia's national 112 emergency call centre piloted an artificial-intelligence tool to provide real-time transcription and response recommendations during emergency calls, envisioned as part of a wider drive to modernise civil-protection dispatch.

The 112 pilot was one of 48 AI-related projects co-financed in North Macedonia between 2018 and 2023, worth a combined EUR6.11 million, spanning 17 sectors including health, finance, energy, agriculture and public administration.

Of the 48 projects, 5 were co-financed by the World Bank, 5 jointly by the World Bank and the state budget, and 38 from the state budget alone. A related example cited in the same review is ADA, a EUR150,000 government-funded digital assistant for investment and state-aid information that was discontinued after two years when its maintenance contract was not renewed.

A 2025 State Audit Office review found the 112 pilot's rollout limited by unresolved funding requirements and the absence of a legal and technical framework, with privacy impact assessments for the call data not systematically completed. The Audit Office concluded that none of the 48 co-financed AI projects had been implemented in the public sector.

The Audit Office attributed the pattern to the absence of a national AI strategy or legal framework, inadequate ICT infrastructure, and a shortage of qualified staff — an honest illustration of the gap between pilot funding and production AI in public administration.