Albania has appointed its first digital minister, Diella, an AI-designed official who will oversee public tenders, removing the authority to select winners from other ministries [1], [2].
Prime Minister Edi Rama’s government aims to curb corruption in public procurement, one of the key obstacles to the country’s EU accession. He stated that the process will proceed “step by step,” adding that Albania will become a country where public tenders are “100% immune to corruption and where every public fund passing through the tender process will be 100% transparent.”
The government has also struck an agreement with OpenAI for several other AI-powered services, including the translation of public documents and smart drones.
Diella is already familiar to the public as the AI assistant on the e-Albania platform, through which citizens access nearly all state services. She even has her own avatar, a young woman dressed in traditional Albanian attire.
Through the agreement with OpenAI, AI is also being applied to other areas, such as the translation of government documents and the operation of smart drones used to monitor illegal activities, such as unauthorized construction or drug cultivation.
However, opposition figures, such as MP Jorida Tabaku, warn that while artificial intelligence can transform governance in the right hands, in the wrong ones it could become “a digital disguise for the same old dysfunction.”
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