Dellathe world’s first “minister” created with Artificial intelligence (IA), “is pregnant” and will soon give birth to “83 children“. Word of its promoter, the president of Albania, Eddie Rama. The president announced it this week in Global Dialoguea forum that takes place annually in Berlin (Germany), and which this year has been the setting chosen by the Balkan politician to attract attention with his latest cybernetic eccentricity.
Rama has been resounding. What is intended, after the introduction in September of Dellais to go a little further, but in the same direction. And do it with the development of 83 employees virtualalso generated from the same technology and whose main task will be provide assistance to deputies of his party, the Albanian Socialist Party, which occupy seats in the country’s Parliament.
In Rama’s words: “Diella is pregnant and expecting 83 children, one for each member of our parliament, who will serve as their assistants, will participate in the sessions parliamentarians and they will take notes of everything that happens, in addition to informing and suggesting to the members of Parliament about their reactions. These children they will have the knowledge of their ‘mother’ “If an MP goes out for coffee or forgets to come back to work, the child will tell him what was said when he was away, whether his name was mentioned, and also if he has to respond to someone who mentioned him for the wrong reasons,” Rama added.
Controversies
Created with technology Microsoft and looking like a woman dressed in the traditional Albanian Zadrimë dress, supposedly as a symbol of the government’s commitment to transparency and technological innovation of the country, Della has not ceased to provoke controversy inside and outside Albania, after being presented last September. Criticism from the opposition, which has even boycotted some parliamentary sessions, but also from various experts.
The Minister of AI of Albania could bring “some benefits” if citizens experience faster and more efficient services. But the risks outweigh the benefits.said, for example, Vera Tika, a political scientist at the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences in Athens (Greece). “By elevating an avatar to ministerial rank, Rama confuses technological spectacle with constitutional authority. Other fragile democracies could imitate this measure as easy gestures of modernity,” he added.
Democratic risks
Other experts have also raised the serious threats posed by Della. First of all, legitimacy risksince although the Government claims that AI operates under human supervision, “Della will inevitably classify, prioritize and frame the information on which political decisions will be based”, which can bias decisions and increase institutional opacity, especially in a country where “75% of citizens distrust political parties and 60% distrust Parliament”, noted Clotilde Bômont and Bojana Zorić, in an analysis of the European Union Institute for Security Studies.
Secondly, there is a cybersecurity riskthen convert to Della In Minister it increases its visibility and makes it “a valuable target” for attacks that could compromise sensitive data or government systems, they added. Finally, there is a risk of foreign technological dependencesince this reinforces the subordination of American suppliers, at a time when the EU is increasingly concerned about “the strategic vulnerabilities generated by its dependence on foreign technologies,” they concluded.
corruption
Observers such as Luisa Maciel Pérez and Martin Démas, authors of an analysis carried out within the framework of the European EMILDAI Program, have pointed out that the creation of Della It is surprising, since Albania does not count with a clear framework AI governance. “The country still has not adhered to the OECD Principles on AI, the first global intergovernmental standard on this subject, nor to the Council of Europe Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligencethe first legally binding international treaty on AI (although Albania is a member of this international organization)”, they added, recalling that in addition Della was presented by Rama as a tool to eliminate corruption not Albania.
Why does this matter for Albania? It matters because the Balkan country faces problems of weak rule of law and low public trust. The report Nations in Transit 2024 Freedom House gives it a score of 3.79/7: a “transitional/hybrid regime.” In the broader report Freedom in the World 2024the country obtains 68/100: “Partially free”, while in the Corruption Perception Index 2024 Transparency International places it at 42/100, among the lowest in Europe.
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