Albania’s Virtual Minister, Diella, Faces Questions

Tirana, Albania —(Map)

Last September, Albania introduced Diella, the world’s first “government minister” powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI). Diella was meant to help fight corruption. But now there are questions about Diella itself. And the woman whose face and voice are behind Diella is suing the government.

Albania wants to join the European Union (EU). But before it can join, it must show that it is working to end corruption. So Edi Rama, Albania’s prime minister, has made fighting corruption a focus.

As part of that effort, in January, 2025, Diella, which means “sun”, was introduced on the government’s website for public services, e-Albania. Back then, Diella was simply a “virtual assistant” – a software program meant to make it easier for people to use the website.

Last September, Albania introduced Diella, the world’s first “government minister” powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI). But Diella began as a virtual assistant on e-Albania, the government’s website for public services (above).

Diella isn’t a real person. It’s a computer program designed to act like a person. It was created by Albania’s National Agency for Information Society (AKSHI). Like ChatGPT, the program uses AI to answer questions and take actions. But Diella’s face and voice are based on those of Anila Bisha, an Albanian actress.

The hope was that Diella would help avoid corruption by making sure government services were delivered fairly. The software also created records of its work that could easily be checked.

Last September, Mr. Rama made a big change from using Diella as a virtual helper on the government website. He introduced Diella as Albania’s Minister for Artificial Intelligence. Diella became the world’s first “virtual minister”.

Diella is now being used to speak before Albania’s parliament and for other official presentations and videos.

Last September, Mr. Rama introduced Diella as Albania’s Minister for Artificial Intelligence. Diella became the world’s first “virtual minister”. Diella is now being used to speak before Albania’s parliament (above) and for other official presentations and videos.

As a minister, Diella is expected to be more than a chatbot. Diella will be used when the government buys things. Using a system of AIs – some trained on the country’s laws – Diella will recommend which things to buy and from which sellers. But the country still plans to have humans make the final decisions.

But Diella is also facing serious questions.

Ms. Bisha isn’t happy about the way the government is using her image. She says she agreed to let the Albanian government use her face and voice on its website for a year. But she says she never agreed for her image to be used as the face of a government minister.

The actress says that now people call her “Minister Diella” when they see her. She’s worried about the things that the Diella AI program might say.

Ms. Bisha is suing the government for €1 million ($1.18 million). She says the government doesn’t have the right to use her face and voice for their AI minister. She has asked a court to make the government stop.

Diella is also raising questions about government corruption. In December, the people in charge of AKSHI, the group that created Diella, were arrested on corruption charges. Now some people wonder if Diella could have been programmed to ignore some illegal actions.

The two cases are separate, and neither has been decided yet.

For Albania, the results are mixed. Appointing Diella as a government minister certainly got the world’s attention, but not all of that attention has been positive.