In September 2025, Albania appointed Diella, an AI system developed under the e-Albania digital services platform, as the country’s Minister of Artificial Intelligence. Diella, designed as a virtual assistant wearing traditional Albanian attire, had already been operational since January 2025, handling citizen inquiries and supporting public-service applications. The appointment marked Albania as the first nation to include an AI entity in its cabinet, with a mandate to combat corruption in public procurement and enhance government efficiency.
On October 25, 2025, during a speech at the Global Dialogue on Information Technology in Berlin, Prime Minister Edi Rama announced that Diella was “pregnant with 83 children.” The statement, delivered in Albanian, referred to the planned deployment of 83 specialized AI assistants, one for each member of parliament from the ruling Socialist Party. These tools will record plenary sessions, summarize proceedings, track attendance (including absences for coffee breaks), and provide real-time data for policy responses. The prime minister described the initiative as a step toward full transparency in legislative work.
The 83 assistants build on Diella’s existing framework, which has processed over one million user interactions through the e-Albania app. Development is handled by Albanian state IT teams in collaboration with international partners, with no external costs reported, Rama emphasized that the system is “100% free” for taxpayers. The rollout is scheduled for early 2026, starting with a pilot phase in parliament before potential expansion to local governments.
Opposition lawmakers have raised concerns about data privacy and the risk of AI tools being used to monitor political activities. During Diella’s first parliamentary address in September, some MPs protested by banging on desks, though the session proceeded without disruption.
Global Context
Albania is not alone in integrating AI into governance:
- Saudi Arabia appointed an AI advisor to its NEOM megacity project in 2023 to optimize urban planning.
- Estonia uses AI for automated judicial decisions in small claims courts, handling over 50% of such cases since 2021.
- Singapore deploys AI chatbots across multiple ministries for citizen services, with a central “Ask Jamie” system fielding millions of queries annually.
- United Arab Emirates created a Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence in 2017, a human role focused on national AI strategy.
Albania’s approach stands out for assigning cabinet-level status to the AI itself and for the scale of per-lawmaker deployment. The 83 assistants represent one of the largest targeted rollouts of legislative AI tools to date. If successful, the model could influence smaller EU-aspirant nations looking to modernize public administration with limited budgets.
Next steps include technical testing in November 2025, followed by parliamentary training sessions and a public review of the assistants’ source code for transparency. The government has invited independent audits to address privacy concerns before full activation.
