Imagine a meteoric rise: from assistant to minister in just nine months. While such a feat would be extraordinary for a human, it’s exactly what Albania’s new AI Minister, Diella, has achieved. Unveiled earlier this month, Diella is set to revolutionize the nation’s public procurement process, stepping up from her previous role as a virtual assistant on the government’s website since January.
Albania, a Balkan nation with aspirations of joining the EU, has long grappled with a severe corruption problem. Beyond facing accusations of being a hub for money laundering and illicit trafficking, the country’s public tender processes are reportedly plagued by graft. These issues significantly hinder its progress towards EU membership.
To tackle these deep-seated challenges, Prime Minister Edi Rama, now in his fourth consecutive term, introduced Diella on September 11. Named after the Albanian word for ‘sun,’ Diella promises to ensure that all public tenders are “100% free of corruption.” Portrayed as a woman in traditional Albanian attire, Diella marks a historic first: “the first Cabinet member who isn’t physically present, but is virtually created by AI,” according to Mr. Rama.
However, this innovative appointment raises constitutional questions, as Albania’s law requires a minister to be a “mentally competent citizen” over 18 years old. While digital assistants like the U.K.’s Humphrey and France’s Albert are common for bureaucratic support, entrusting an AI system with actual decision-making power is a groundbreaking, and unprecedented, step.
In her previous role as a virtual assistant, Diella successfully delivered over 1,000 services and issued 36,600 digital documents to citizens. Yet, as she transitions into a ministerial role, the AI bot’s capabilities, powered by Large Language Models (LLMs) similar to ChatGPT and Gemini and developed with Microsoft, haven’t fully quieted skeptics. Mr. Rama’s administration has remained notably silent regarding the extent of human oversight in Diella’s new role, fueling further concerns.
The initiative has drawn criticism from two main angles: political and ethical. Opposition Democrats have dismissed it as just another one of Mr. Rama’s ‘eyewash’ reforms. The 61-year-old Socialist leader has a history of making headlines, from attending international meetings in sneakers to banning TikTok across the country, and even famously welcoming Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on one knee at an EU gathering in Tirana.
Human vs. Machine: The Ethical Dilemma
Ethical critics argue that simply replacing humans with a machine won’t solve corruption. An AI system is inherently limited by the quality of the data it’s trained on, and human biases during data input could easily influence Diella’s decisions. Unlike human ministers, an AI cannot be held accountable or expected to take ownership during a crisis. Moreover, this process eliminates the critical space for deliberation before decisions are made—a cornerstone of democratic governance.
At her launch, Diella herself addressed these concerns, stating, “The Constitution speaks of institutions at the people’s service. It doesn’t speak of chromosomes, of flesh or blood. It speaks of duties, accountability, transparency, non-discriminatory service. I assure you that I embody such values as strictly as every human colleague, maybe even more.” She further challenged the constitutional age and citizenship requirements by adding, “True, I have no citizenship, but I have no personal ambition or interests either.”
Mr. Rama’s commitment to AI is not new. In 2024, Albania leveraged the technology to translate over 250,000 EU documents and laws and deployed AI-powered drones and satellites to monitor its territory. He has even enlisted the expertise of Mira Murati, the former CTO of OpenAI (creators of ChatGPT) and an Albanian native, to accelerate the country’s EU membership ambitions.
Regardless of its potential, Diella’s appointment has undoubtedly ignited a crucial global conversation about the role of AI in governance and the institutional boundaries that should be set. While cynics warn that implementing AI into an already flawed system might merely automate existing problems, only time will reveal the true impact of this unprecedented experiment.