Albania appoints AI bot as minister to fight corruption

A new minister in Albania charged to handle public procurement will be impervious to bribes, threats, or attempts to curry favor. 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 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 percent 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 was 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.