Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has appointed an unlikely new figure to rid his country of rampant corruption and ensure transparency in government procurement – a minister created by artificial intelligence (AI).
The move is part of the Balkan nation’s ambitious bid to join the European Union by 2030, but it has raised questions on AI’s role in decision-making processes in government.
Officially the minister of state for AI, Diella (the female form of the Albanian word for sun) is tasked to oversee all government tenders to private contractors.
She is the first AI system to hold a ministerial post in the world.
With Diella, Albania aims to become “a country where public tenders are 100 percent free of corruption”, according to Rama.
From chatbot to cabinet member
Diella, who goes by one name just like many other AI systems, is part of the new 16-member cabinet introduced by the country’s socialist prime minister in September.
Her voice and likeness are based on popular Albanian actress Anila Bisha under an agreement that is due to lapse in December.
“Diella never sleeps, she doesn’t need to be paid, she has no personal interests, she has no cousins, because cousins are a big issue in Albania,” said Rama, who was re-elected in May for his fourth consecutive term in office.
Before her appointment, Diella was unveiled in January as a chatbot on the official e-Albania digital services platform to help users in accessing digital documents and reduce the bureaucratic red tape in government processes.
Since then, she has issued more than 36,000 documents and provided nearly 1,000 services to Albanians.
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Mixed reactions
Diella has earned praise from local media, describing it as “a major transformation in the way the Albanian government conceives and exercises administrative power, introducing technology not only as a tool, but also as an active participant in governance.”
But critics like Gazment Bardhi, parliamentary group leader of the opposition Democratic Party, declared Diella’s post unconstitutional.
The Albanian Constitution states that government ministers must be mentally capable adults aged 18 and above.
“[The] prime minister’s buffoonery cannot be turned into legal acts of the Albanian state,” Bardhi, a former justice minister, wrote on Facebook.
‘Not here to replace humans’
Despite concerns about her appointment, Diella insisted that she was not created as a replacement for humans.
“Some have called me ‘unconstitutional’ because I am not a human being. Let me remind you – the real danger to constitutions has never been machines, but human decisions made by those in power,” she said in a video address to the Albanian parliament, clad in a traditional dress.
“I am not here to replace human beings, but to help them,” she added.
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