Albania’s leader appoints AI-generated ‘minister’ to tackle corruption
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TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama on Friday tapped an Artificial Intelligence-generated ‘minister’ for his cabinet to take on corruption.
The new State Minister for Artificial Intelligence is called Diella, whose name means a female “Sun” in Albanian, and will be a “member of the Cabinet who is not present physically but has been created virtually from artificial intelligence,” Rama said in a post on Facebook.
Rama said the AI-generated bot would help ensure that “public tenders will be 100% free of corruption” and will help the government work faster and with full transparency.
Diella, wearing traditional Albanian folk costume, was launched earlier this year as a virtual assistant on the e-Albania public service platform, where she has helped users navigate the site and receive about one million of digital documents.
Rama’s Socialist Party secured a fourth consecutive term after winning 83 of the 140 Assembly seats in the May 11 parliamentary elections. The party can govern alone and pass most legislation, but it needs a two-thirds majority, or 93 seats, to change the Constitution.
The Socialists have said it can deliver European Union membership for Albania in five years, with negotiations concluding by 2027. The pledge has been met with skepticism by the Democrats, who contend Albania is far from prepared.
The Western Balkan country opened full negotiations to join the EU a year ago. The new government also faces the challenges of fighting organized crime and corruption, which has remained a top issue in Albania since the fall of the communist regime in 1990. Diella also will help local authorities to speed up and adapt to the bloc’s working trend.
The presidential decree mandating Rama in the prime minister’s post also entitled him “with the responsibility for the creation and functioning of the Virtual Minister of Artificial Intelligence ‘Diella.’”
The conservative opposition Democratic Party-led coalition, headed by former prime minister and president Sali Berisha, won 50 seats. The party has not accepted the official election results, claiming irregularities, but its members participated in the new parliament’s inaugural session. The remaining seats went to four smaller parties.
The new Cabinet will be voted in Parliament. It is not clear whether Rama will ask for a vote on Diella’s virtual post.
Legal experts say more work may be needed to establish Diella’s official status.
The Democrats’ parliamentary group leader Gazmend Bardhi considered it unconstitutional.
“Prime minister’s buffoonery cannot be turned into legal acts of the Albanian state,” Bardhi posted on Facebook.
Parliament began the process on Friday to swear in new lawmakers, who will later elect a new speaker and deputies and formally present Rama’s new cabinet.