Albania Appoints World’s First AI Minister

Albania appoints world's first AI minister, an AI serving as a government administrator.

Albania has become the first country in the world to appoint an AI minister—an artificial intelligence serving as a government administrator. This was reported by Politico.

The virtual assistant has been named Diella, which means “sunlight” in Albanian. The neural network will be responsible for all government procurement.

Prime Minister Edi Rama introduced the AI politician at a Socialist Party meeting in Tirana.

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

Decisions on tenders will be transferred from ministries to the digital assistant. The process will proceed step by step.

Albania will become a country where government procurement is “100% non-corrupt, and every public fund passing through these procedures is 100% transparent,” Rama noted.

Diella already manages the national e-Albania platform, which allows residents to access nearly all official services digitally. The AI is represented by an avatar of a young woman in Albanian attire.

Albania has long struggled with corruption, particularly in public administration and government procurement. This issue has been repeatedly raised by the European Union in its annual rule of law reports.

Previously, researchers replaced politicians with AI agents at a meeting of the Federal Reserve and found that political pressure divided board members during discussions on interest rates.

In September, Ukraine launched the “world’s first” state AI agent on the “Diia” portal.