This article was written by guest contributor Ruben Snip, a 1st year IRIO student with a particular interest in cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence.

’The Constitution speaks of duties, responsibilities, transparency, and service. It does not speak of chromosomes, flesh, or blood.’’

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama remarked after critics slammed the introduction of an AI minister two months ago as unethical. Albania is the first country ever to appoint an Artificial Intelligence program as an official minister in its cabinet. The AI-Minister that goes by the codename ‘‘Diella’’, was introduced by Edi Rama as a means to curtail growing corruption in Albania. But the question that still lingers is: was this truly the sole reason?

Originally, Diella was launched in early 2025 as a virtual assistant to Albanian citizens, helping them navigate through endless bureaucracy. Dressed in traditional Albanian clothing, she would communicate with citizens like a chatbot, helping them obtain state documents and address other administrative issues. When two months ago, Prime Minister Edi Rama unveiled Diella’s surprise promotion to a sitting minister of his fourth cabinet, it sparked heavy opposition. The promotion would mean Diella was to oversee governmental contracts affecting 3.1 million citizens. Certain opposition members criticised Edi Rama for undermining democracy and avoiding accountability. On the other side of the spectrum, supporters (mostly his party members) hailed it as a bold step towards digital governance. It was planned that after this unveiling, hours of discussion were to be had at the Albanian ‘Kuvendi’ parliament building. However, it only took 25 minutes for the parliament to descend into chaos, with lawmakers of the opposition’s right-wing Democratic Party going so far as to throw their own trash at the prime minister.

Artificial intelligence has thus reached the highest forms of government in Albania, and it’s now inspiring Albanians to push the limits of democracy itself. As Albania’s capital, Tirana, prepares for this fall’s mayoral elections. A group of IT experts has proposed a surprising contender, an AI called TirANA (Tirana Algorithmic Neural Assistant). The group aims to test the legal boundaries of Albania’s electoral system. In their own words,

”Our goal is not just to make a comparison with Diella, even though the comparison arises naturally. We are testing the legal boundaries to see whether it is possible for such an entity to register with the Central Election Commission (CEC)’’

Edi Rama does not plan to slow down either. Rama has even gone so far as to say that Diella is ‘pregnant’, expecting 83 kids (yes, he did say that). Each of Diella’s children is to assist an MP of the ruling Socialist party. But does Edi Rama purely do this for domestic reasons, or is the EU involved? Ever since 2009, Albania has gone through a lengthy process to enter the European Union. Edi Rama’s cabinet has pledged to finalise all their negotiations with the EU by 2027. With one of the requirements for EU accession being a broader digitalisation of Albanian society, Prime Minister Edi Rama is relying heavily on advancing AI. As we have seen, he has demonstrated this by first introducing Diella as an AI chatbot in early 2025 and now promoting her to a full-fledged minister. Creating this AI form of governance is used to convince EU lawmakers of the progress Albania has made in digitalising its society. Diella is therefore not just a materialised version of anti-corruption policy, but a symbolic ploy from Prime Minister Edi Rama to impress EU lawmakers. Whether this ploy will help in the long run is to be seen. Nevertheless, the EU Institute for Security Policy highlighted some major issues within the introduction of an AI minister like Diella.

Both the institute and Albanian opposition members warned that Diella would make countless decisions driven by code that go beyond political oversight. If one of these decisions were to cause a scandal, how traceable would it be to the governmental choices themselves? AI risks creating an even thinner layer of accountability in political governance than there already exists. Secondly, and quite importantly for the EU, the introduction of an AI minister creates major risks for cybersecurity. Diella will handle sensitive governmental data and personal data from citizens; if this is to be exploited by state or non-state actors, it could be used as a direct entry point to all kinds of confidential information within the Albanian government. Since Albania is moving towards joining the EU and afterwards increasing its digital connectivity with its member states, it could grow into a massive security risk for the entire Union.

Beyond the EU institute’s remarks, Diella also fuels a discussion about the ethics of AI. Amid rising populism, which feeds on the fear that politicians are growing out of touch, should we really make politics even less connected to humanity? AI has not developed far enough (and perhaps never will) to grasp the concepts of empathy, morals and context. Hence, we have to ask ourselves if aiming for ultra-optimal results through AI governance is really worth sacrificing these concepts of humanity.

Disclaimer: This article was entirely human-written without the use of Artificial Intelligence.

For further reading on this topic:

The full report from the EU Institute for Security Policy: 

Bômont, Clotilde. And Bojana Zorić. (2025, October 17). Artificial intelligence, real politics: What Albania’s AI Minister means for EU accession. https://www.iss.europa.eu/publications/commentary/artificial-intelligence-real-politics-what-albanias-ai-minister-means-eu 

Further information on the AI candidate proposed to run for mayor in Tirana:

Gjoka, Blerina. (2025, October 13). AI ‘Candidate’ Proposed for Albania Mayoral Election. https://balkaninsight.com/2025/10/13/ai-candidate-proposed-for-albania-mayoral-election/ 

And if you feel this should be included, the interview with Edi Rama where he remarked that Diella Was pregnant, expecting 83 children. (timestamp: 27:10) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O8LIxPk-D4