Like the dancing robots at a recent ruling party rally, Serbia’s government is approaching AI without proper scrutiny or unwanted legal constraints.
Ana Toskic Cvetinovic
On June 27, during a rally held by the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, SNS, two robots danced a traditional Serbian dance called the Moravac, on a stage in front of the national parliament.
Dressed in traditional folk costume, robots Milutin and Dragutin performed before thousands of people bussed to Belgrade to demonstrate President Aleksandar Vucic’s ability to summon a crowd after a year and a half of student-led, anti-government protests.
It was also, in its way, a perfect demonstration of Serbia’s approach to artificial intelligence: as political theatre.
Nobody asked who built the robots, who owns the data they generate, or what legal framework governs their use in public. Indeed, there is no easy answer to the question ‘Who governs AI in Serbia, and in whose interest?’
Serbia likes to present itself as a regional leader on AI: from late 2024 and throughout 2025, the country held the presidency of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence; it hosted a Ministerial Declaration on AI in December 2024, backed by 44 states, emphasising a commitment to safe, secure and trustworthy AI development; and Serbia was the first country in the region to adopt an AI strategy, has drafted ethical guidelines on the responsible use of AI, and has tasked a working group to draft the country’s first AI Law.
However, below this regulatory surface, the practice looks completely different.
