Meet Albania’s new AI ‘minister,’ tasked with fighting corruption

Named Diella, meaning “sun” in Albanian, she is the world’s first AI-powered government official and the newest member of Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Cabinet, following his fourth-term victory in May.

According to Rama, the bot will take charge of all public tenders, where the government awards contracts to private firms through bidding, an area long considered a source of corruption in the Balkan country.

“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, adding she will help make Albania "a country where public tenders are 100% free of corruption."

Though a global first, Diella is not new to Albanians. She first appeared as a virtual assistant on the e-Albania platform, helping citizens and businesses obtain official documents.

Since then, she has helped issue more than 36,600 digital documents and provided nearly 1,000 services through the platform, according to government figures.

The appointment is also part of Albania’s push to join the European Union by 2030, a membership that significantly leans on the Balkan country resolving its corruption problems. 

Corruption is so widespread in the Balkan country that more than 1 out of 4 of its citizens aged 18 to 64 have experienced bribery with a public official, according to a United Nations report published in 2011.

After Rama announced the appointment, many Albanians voiced scepticism that a machine could tackle a problem rooted in human behaviour.

Diella’s role, after all, is symbolic more than official: under Albania’s constitution, cabinet ministers must be mentally competent citizens at or over the age of 18.

Rama, however, insisted that the appointment is meant to show other nations still tethered to “traditional ways of working” that technology can play a central role in government.