Albania Appoints World’s First AI Minister ‘Diela’ to Ensure Corruption-Free Governance

The whole world is in a rush to automate many tasks, including coding with AI, which is deepening the crisis in jobs. Whereas Albania has set a new example to eliminate corruption with AI. It is being described as the first experiment of its kind in the field of AI technology. Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama on Friday announced the inclusion of an AI Minister in his cabinet. The name of this virtual minister is Diella, which means "sun" in the Albanian language.

In fact, Albania has done what even developed countries like America and China have not been able to do so far in the field of AI technology. Diela is the world's first AI minister tasked with eliminating corruption. Prime Minister Rama says Diela will monitor public funding projects and government tenders to completely eradicate corruption. Rama promised that "all our public tenders will be 100% corruption-free."

Diela was launched earlier this year on a government digital platform called e-Albania. Here she works as a virtual assistant and helps users use the website while wearing traditional Albanian attire. Rama told his ruling Socialist Party that the responsibility of deciding the winner of government tenders will now lie with 'Diela' instead of ministers.

Corruption has long been an issue in Albania because of scams in government tenders. This AI system will review the bids made by every company, which will eliminate human intervention and also eliminate risks such as bribery, threats, or favoritism. Reforming the sector is also crucial to Albania's ambitions to join the EU by 2030.

Albanian media has described the decision as a 'big change' where technology is no longer just a supporting tool but an active player in governance. Legal experts say Diela's official position needs more work. Corruption has remained a serious problem in Albania since the end of communist rule in 1990. It will be interesting to see how much change the AI ​​minister can bring.