Albania has a new minister. It’s an AI avatar

White, dark hair, traditional clothes. It just doesn’t exist. Diella is the new AI minister… of her own making. The Albanian Prime Minister believes that an avatar can help join the European Union.

Last month, Albania made history with an unprecedented decision in Europe. Now, the new Minister of Artificial Intelligence is… an avatar made by AI itself.

Diella (“Sun” in Albanian), a digital avatar resembling a woman in traditional Albanian costume, is now responsible for overseeing public accounts when it comes to AI, account to

There are two implied justifications. The first is the corruption that has involved the entire government of Edi Rama and that has put the opposition in an uproar. This avatar appears as a symbol of neutrality and exemption when it comes to technology-related purchases. According to , Rama promised a new era in which “public tenders will be 100% incorruptible and each public fund will be 100% transparent”.

But there is another dimension to this problem: Edi Rama, a Europeanist, wants to make Albania join the European Union, and considers AI to be a means to achieve this.

AI can, Rama believes, help the development of secure digital infrastructures and the digitalization of Albanian society are requirements for EU membership, or facilitate the transposition of the acquis communautaire and the harmonization of the Albanian legislative framework with European standards.

Within the country itself, there are those who are not at all enthusiastic about the idea. This is the case of Besmir Semanaj, a specialist with 17 years of experience in information technology, who explains to DW that “Right now, Diella is just a chatbotnot an autonomous system”.

“Artificial intelligence can support government decisions if properly trained and monitored, but the real problem is the transparency: We don’t know what data it is based on or who is responsible for maintaining it,” he said.

The legitimacy of the avatar has been highly contested by Rama’s political opponents, who continue to rely on AI as a means of approaching Europe. It remains to be seen whether the Europeans are happy.