Albania appoints AI bot as minister to tackle corruption

A new minister in Albania charged to handle public procurement will be impervious to bribes, threats or attempts to curry favour. That is because Diella, as she is called, is an AI-generated bot.

Prime Minister Edi Rama, who is about to begin his fourth term, said on Thursday that Diella, which means "sun" in Albanian, will manage and award all public tenders in which the government contracts private companies for various projects.

“Diella is the first cabinet member who isn’t physically present, but is virtually created by AI,” Rama said during a speech unveiling his new cabinet. She will help make Albania "a country where public tenders are 100% free of corruption."

The awarding of such contracts has long been a source of corruption scandals in Albania, a Balkan country that experts say is a hub for gangs seeking to launder their money from trafficking drugs and weapons across the world, and where graft has reached the corridors of power.

That image has complicated Albania's accession to the European Union, which Rama wants to achieve by 2030 but which political analysts say is ambitious.

The government did not provide details of what human oversight there might be for Diella, or address risks that someone could manipulate the artificial intelligence bot.

Diella originally launched early this year as an AI-powered virtual assistant on the e-Albania platform, helping citizens and businesses obtain state documents.

Dressed in traditional Albanian attire, she provides assistance through voice commands and issues documents with electronic stamps, reducing bureaucratic delays.

Not everyone is convinced. One Facebook user said: "Even Diella will be corrupted in Albania." Another said: "Stealing will continue and Diella will be blamed."

The new parliament, elected in May, is scheduled to convene on Friday, though it remains unclear if the government will be voted on the same day.