By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Albania on Thursday announced the appointment of world’s first AI-generated government minister saddled with the responsibility of overseeing public tenders, as the country seeks to deploy artificial intelligence to make it “corruption-free”.
Prime Minister Edi Rama while presenting the new appointee at a meeting of his Socialist Party named the new “member” Diella, meaning “sun” in Albanian.
“Diella is the first (government) member who is not physically present, but virtually created by artificial intelligence,” Rama said.
Diella will be entrusted with all decisions on public tenders, making them “100-per cent corruption-free and every public fund submitted to the tender procedure will be perfectly transparent”, the Prime Minister added.
Diella was launched in January as an AI-powered virtual assistant, resembling a woman dressed in traditional Albanian costume to help people use the official e-Albania platform that provides documents and services.
According to official figures, it has so far helped issue 36,600 digital documents and provided nearly 1,000 services through the platform.
Rama, who secured a fourth term in office in the historic May elections, is due to present his new cabinet to lawmakers in the coming days.
The fight against corruption, particularly in the public administration, is a key criterion in Albania’s bid to join the European Union.
Rama aspires to lead the Balkan nation of 2.8 million people into the political bloc by 2030.
