The world’s first AI government official is experiencing predictable challenges.
Yesterday, the virtual assistant “Diella” delivered its “inaugural address” to the Albanian parliament. Expectedly, the software — appointed as Minister for Public Procurements by Prime Minister Edi Rama last week — faced backlash from some officials.
A chaotic video shared by Albanian media group Report TV shows opposition party lawmakers throwing bottles and items at the prime minister and his cabinet after attempts to block the address were unsuccessful.
“This marked the end of the first session of the new legislature,” the video caption states.
In its “speech,” Diella addressed opponents who challenged the appointment on constitutional grounds.
“Some have called me ‘unconstitutional’ because I am not a human being,” the program stated. “The real danger to constitutions has always been the inhumane decisions of those in power, not machines.”
The opposition party, the Democratic Party of Albania (PD), is a conservative group with slightly less influence than the ruling Socialist Party of Albania, a democratic socialist group.
Both parties have faced widespread corruption since the market economy’s introduction in the 1990s. Initially, Rama posited the idea of an AI minister as a provocative statement to emphasize tackling political corruption, key to Albania’s aspirations to join the European Union.
Nevertheless, the prime minister appointed Diella to oversee all public contracts, asserting this will make government logistics “100 percent corruption-free” and ensure “perfect transparency” in public fund tender procedures.
Not everyone agrees.
“The goal is merely to attract attention. Diella cannot curb corruption,” stated PD official and former prime minister Sali Berisha, himself embroiled in a corruption scandal.
“Who will control Diella? Diella is unconstitutional, and the Democratic Party will challenge it in the Constitutional Court,” Berisha added.
Diella began as a text-based virtual assistant aiding citizens through the e-Albania portal. Its “AI” component, developed by Albania’s National Agency for Information Society (AKSHI), uses a Microsoft language model.
Previously, the program only facilitated paperwork and information flow between officials and citizens. Whether it can independently manage public procurements for Albania’s 3.1 million remains uncertain.
