Edi Rama wants you to trust Diella, Albania's AI minister DW 10/16/2025
Briefly

Edi Rama wants you to trust Diella, Albania's AI minister  DW  10/16/2025
"Originally a digital assistant on the government's e-Albania portal, Diella was promoted to the world's first virtual artificial intelligence minister by Prime Minister Edi Rama in September. Draped in a folkloric Albanian dress and powered by algorithms, Diella's AI avatar smiled from a government monitor. Rama promised a new era in which "public tenders will be 100% incorruptible, and every public fund 100% transparent." In a country that has long battled corruption, the promise sounded familiar."
"When President Bajram Begaj approved the new 16-member Cabinet on September 15, Diella was missing. The virtual minister, announced with fanfare by Rama, had no line in the official document. Instead, Article 2 of the decree assigned Rama himself "responsibility for the establishment and functioning of the virtual minister," effectively placing the system under his direct authority. In practice, the act gave Rama control over an entity that has no legal existence."
""The very notion of an 'AI minister' has no basis in Albania's constitution," legal expert Sokol Hazizaj said. "The constitutional meaning of the word minister is inseparable from a physical person and the responsibilities attached to that role. A minister is accountable to citizens something no algorithm can be.""
Albania elevated Diella, a digital assistant from the e-Albania portal, to a cabinet-level virtual minister with an AI avatar and promises of fully incorruptible public tenders and transparent public funds. Prime Minister Edi Rama announced the move and wrapped the avatar in folkloric dress and algorithmic functions. President Bajram Begaj did not include Diella in the official 16-member Cabinet decree; Article 2 instead assigned Rama responsibility for the virtual minister's establishment and functioning. Article 100 requires ministers to be natural persons capable of deliberation, voting, and bearing moral and political responsibility. Legal experts say an algorithm cannot be held accountable.
Read at www.dw.com
Unable to calculate read time
[
|
]