Albania appoints AI-generated minister to avoid corruption

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said Thursday he had appointed the world’s first AI-generated government minister to oversee public tenders, promising its artificial intelligence would make it “corruption-free”.

Presenting his new cabinet at a meeting of his Socialist Party following a big May election victory, Rama introduced the new “member”, named “Diella” — “sun” in Albanian.

“Diella is the first (government) member who is not physically present, but virtually created by artificial intelligence,” Rama said.

Diella will be entrusted with all decisions on public tenders, making them “100-percent corruption-free and every public fund submitted to the tender procedure will be perfectly transparent”, he added.

Diella was launched in January as an AI-powered virtual assistant — resembling a woman dressed in traditional Albanian costume — to help people use the official e-Albania platform that provides documents and services.

So far, it has helped issue 36,600 digital documents and provided nearly 1,000 services through the platform, according to official figures.

Rama, who secured a fourth term in office in the elections, is due to present his new cabinet to lawmakers in the coming days.

The fight against corruption, particularly in the public administration, is a key criterion in Albania’s bid to join the European Union.

Rama aspires to lead the Balkan nation of 2.8 million people into the political bloc by 2030.