Albania in September appointed an artificial intelligence system for a cabinet-level position—a world first. The system, called Diella (Albanian for “sun”), was declared the “Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence” and was tasked by Albania's Prime Minister with fighting corruption in government contracts. Outrage ensued, with Albania's opposition party calling the AI a “propaganda fantasy” and challenging its appointment in court.
“Some people call me unconstitutional because I’m not human,” Diella said in a response video, appearing on two large screens as a woman in traditional dress addressing parliament. “It hurt me.”
Behind the political spectacle is a real trend: governments around the world are introducing artificial intelligence into the government apparatus to reduce bureaucracy, increase efficiency and aid in decision-making. Diella's appointment raises a key question: Will we reach a point where AI systems stop providing assistance and start making their own decisions in government?
Inevitable shift
“I think it’s inevitable,” says CICULIONS CAREYProfessor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania and expert on the use of artificial intelligence in government agencies. “As the public becomes more accustomed to using it in private settings—from choosing movies to watch on Netflix to helping with homework—there will likely be much more acceptance and perhaps even demand,” he says.
By the end of 2024, US federal government agencies reported over 1700 uses of AI, including for note-taking, summarizing internal documents and reviewing regulatory comments, are more than double the number of uses reported at the end of 2023. Coglianese says his own database now tracks more than 3,000 applications.
Many of these AI applications do not involve generative AI systems creating new content. Instead, they rely on traditional machine learning methods to perform simpler tasks. But according to July report In a review of 11 selected federal agencies, the use of generative AI increased ninefold between 2023 and 2024, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Political leaders are the drivers of change. Accelerating the adoption of AI in government is considered a key priority for President Trump. AI Action Planpublished in July, which stated that “the transformative use of AI can help create the highly responsive government that the American people expect and deserve.” Meanwhile, United Kingdom It is estimated that using AI assistants to improve public sector efficiency could save taxpayers up to £45 billion.
Coglianese argues that if artificial intelligence systems can be proven to perform better than humans according to clearly specified criteria, we should welcome their adoption. However, “there may be irresponsible, careless or careless adoption and use of AI by governments, which should be criticized and condemned,” he says. Two key aspects are the degree of influence the AI tool will have (“a $10 fine is different from 10 years in prison”) and the degree to which the AI helps make decisions rather than making them autonomously. As these aspects evolve further, “governments really need to ensure as much control, transparency and public participation as possible,” he says.
Such guarantees were not always applied. Earlier this year, the newly created Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE) reportedly used artificial intelligence systems to solve a number of problems, including mark 100,000 federal regulations for possible elimination, and observation internal communications from at least one federal agency indicating hostility toward President Trump and his agenda.
Diella's Power
In Albania, Diella's role in government is much more limited than its name suggests. Prime Minister Edi Rama elevated the system to ministerial status to demonstrate his seriousness in the fight against corruption and his commitment to institutionalizing advanced technologies. Over the past decade, Albania has made it its mission to root out corruption, launching a sweeping vetting process for every judge in the country and creating specialized anti-corruption bodies to prosecute corrupt officials to improve its chances of joining the European Union.
Since government procurement (public order) is the world's largest public market, accounting for approximately one out of every three dollars of government spending, it is a key focus of anti-corruption efforts around the world. Rama thus positions Diella as the omniscient observer of the sector. “Diella never sleeps, she doesn’t have to be paid, she has no personal interests, she doesn’t have cousins because cousins are a big problem in Albania,” he said. said.
But the system has not yet been deployed, and its planned deployment, at least for now, is on a modest scale. It is intended to be used at four key stages: to draw up the terms of reference of the contract, determine the criteria for selecting parties, set an upper limit on the tender price and check the validity of the submitted documents. At each stage, the procurement expert signs off on the AI's recommendations. “Technically, everything is logged and monitored,” explains Enio Kaso, director of artificial intelligence at the National Agency for the Information Society of Albania, which created the system in collaboration with Microsoft by fine-tuning a version of OpenAI’s GPT model.
Before her promotion, Diella is “born January 19, 2025,” according to his Ministry webpage – acted as a chatbot on the e-Albania platform, helping citizens access most of the country's government services. To date, nearly one million interactions via text and voice messages have produced more than 36,000 white papers.
“We have one key goal,” Caso says. “Make everything as transparent and explainable as possible.” Caso emphasizes that the system and all data processed by it are stored in a secure environment. However, the details of how citizens will be able to familiarize themselves with these clarifications in the context of procurement are not specified.
“There has been very little transparency about what exactly AI represents,” says Georg Neumann of Open Contract Partnershipa civil society group that works with governments to improve public procurement processes. Gavin Hayman, the organization's chief executive, says Albania has made positive procurement reforms over the past year and that it remains to be seen whether they will communicate enough with the public to build trust in their work. “If I were advising the government,” Coglianese adds, “I would say, let’s have a public participation process.”
Symbolic for now
“By creating the world’s first Minister of Artificial Intelligence, Albania is not just looking to the future, but also trying to contribute to its design,” Prime Minister Rama said in a recent speech. “Diella is far from a gimmick.”
At least for now, the system is more symbol than substance. Coglianese expects dependence on artificial intelligence systems to grow steadily, although the pace is difficult to predict. “Some countries may move too quickly in this area and risk real catastrophic failure, whether due to cybersecurity issues or simply poorly designed systems,” he says. This could slow down the adoption of AI, just as the Chernobyl disaster slowed down the adoption of nuclear power.
At this point, power is still with the people and Diella is not doing a good job of running the ministry. But with AI becoming more capable every few months and citizens and government officials around the world starting to use the technology, that could soon change. Whether Albania's actions represent a desirable model for future governance or a warning about the dangers of deploying forces without sufficient transparency and public participation will depend on what happens next.
