In a move that blurs the line between governance and science fiction, Albania has unveiled the world’s first artificial intelligence cabinet minister, not to oversee AI, but to be AI.
Meet Diella, meaning “sun” in Albanian, a digital entity unveiled by Prime Minister Edi Rama on Thursday, days after he began his fourth term. Tasked with nothing less than purifying Albania’s notoriously murky public procurement system, Diella represents a radical experiment: can code outperform human politicians in the fight against corruption?
Legally, she can’t hold office as Albania’s constitution requires ministers to be adult, mentally competent citizens. But symbolically? She’s already in the room. And Rama is betting she’ll do more than most flesh-and-blood officials ever could.
“She doesn’t leak secrets. She doesn’t take bribes. The only ‘power’ she consumes is electricity,” Rama told the BBC with a wry smile. “Our goal? To make Albania the first country where public tenders are 100% free of corruption.”
From virtual assistant to cabinet-level disruptor
Diella isn’t a newcomer. She began her public service as a chatbot on Albania’s e-Albania portal, guiding citizens through document applications, a role in which Rama claims she’s already “helped more than a million applications.” Now, she’s being scaled into a full AI model for procurement, trained to scrutinise bids, detect anomalies, enforce criteria, and eliminate human discretion and therefore, human temptation.
“We’re working with a brilliant team, Albanian and international, to build the first full AI model in public procurement,” Rama explained. “We won’t just remove influence. We’ll make the process faster, more efficient, and totally accountable.”
It’s a moonshot for a country long plagued by graft and a deliberate provocation to Europe’s sclerotic bureaucracies. “We can leapfrog larger nations still stuck in traditional ways of working,” Rama declared.
The politics of performance
Not everyone is applauding. Albania’s opposition Democratic Party slammed the move as “ridiculous” and “unconstitutional.” Critics call it a stunt, digital theatre masking deeper institutional rot.
But others see method in the machine.
“Rama often mixes reform with theatrics,” noted Aneida Bajraktari Bicja of Balkans Capital. “But if this evolves into real systems that improve transparency and rebuild trust? Then it’s constructive theatrics.”
Academics agree with caveats.
Dr Andi Hoxhaj of King’s College London, an expert on Balkan governance and EU integration, sees potential: “AI is still a new tool but if programmed correctly, it can objectively assess whether a company meets bid criteria. No favours. No backroom deals.”
He stressed the stakes: “Albania’s EU accession hinges on tackling corruption. If Diella becomes a vehicle for that? It’s worth exploring even if she’s not technically ‘in’ the cabinet.”
The global implications: Is Diella a glimpse of governance 2.0?
Rama admits there’s showmanship but insists it’s strategic. “It puts pressure on other ministers and agencies to run and think differently. That’s the biggest advantage I’m expecting.”
Imagine: a minister who never sleeps, never lies, never takes a vacation and whose decisions are auditable down to the algorithm. Diella may be symbolic today, but she’s a prototype for tomorrow.
As governments from Dhaka to Dubai, Cairo to Canberra grapple with public distrust and bureaucratic inertia, Albania’s experiment poses a provocative question: In the battle for clean governance, should we trust humans or code?
For now, Diella is powered by servers, not scandals. And in a world where politics is too often broken, she might just be the upgrade democracy didn’t know it needed.