Albania has made history by appointing the world’s first-ever AI government official to combat its persistent issues with corruption. According to Politico Europe, this AI, named “Diella,” meaning “sunshine” in Albanian, is not a minister of AI but is the AI minister itself. This role differs from countries like Canada and the United Arab Emirates, which have a minister of AI.
Edi Rama, Albania’s prime minister, introduced Diella, who will also serve as the avatar for e-Albania, the country’s government services portal. Diella will manage public procurement, the process by which the government and state-owned companies use taxpayer dollars to purchase items and services, from office supplies to infrastructure materials. Rama emphasized that decisions made by Diella will undergo a “step-by-step” review process, ensuring they are “100 percent incorruptible” and “100 percent legible.”
Besides overseeing procurement, the prime minister announced that Diella will recruit global talent to reduce “fear of prejudice and rigidity of the administration.”
The connection between Diella as the procurement minister and the e-Albania assistant remains unclear. However, A2, a CNN affiliate in Albania, reported earlier that the government services assistant was created using technology from OpenAI and Microsoft.
For the government services portal, Diella is depicted in a pink-and-white traditional Albanian dress and headscarf, but it’s uncertain if similar attire will represent the procurement minister role.
While Diella aims to eliminate corruption from drug traffickers and gangs exploiting government contracts, it poses potential risks if exploited by bad actors or if it makes poor decisions, as seen with other AI systems like those from OpenAI. Nonetheless, this initiative represents an intriguing case of AI integration in government and could be a precursor to similar efforts in other nations.
More on this topic: This Country Wants to Replace Its Corrupt Government With AI.
