Albania has become the first country in the world to appoint an AI minister. This is not a person in charge of AI, but a virtual minister made of pixels and code that runs on artificial intelligence.
Albania has become the first country in the world to appoint an AI minister. This is not a person in charge of AI, but a virtual minister made of pixels and code that runs on artificial intelligence.
Her name is Diella, which means "sun" in Albanian, and she will be responsible for all government procurement, writes Politico.
On Thursday, at a Socialist Party meeting in Tirana, Prime Minister Edi Rama announced which ministers would remain for the next term and which would be replaced, and he also introduced Diella, the only non-human member of the government.
"Diella is the first member who is not physically present but virtually created by artificial intelligence," he said.
Rama said that tender decisions would be “taken out of the ministries” and placed in the hands of Diella, who is the “public procurement minister.” He noted that the process would take place “step by step,” but Albania would become a country where public tenders would be “100% incorruptible, and every public fund that goes through a tendering procedure would be 100% transparent.”
"This is not science fiction, it is Diella's duty," he said.
Diella has already been introduced to Albanian citizens as she runs the country’s “e-Albania” platform, which allows citizens to access almost all government services digitally. She even has an avatar, a young woman dressed in traditional Albanian clothing.
Diella will evaluate tenders and have the power to “hire talent from around the world,” while “overcoming fears of administration bias.”
