Albania Deploys AI Assistants for Every Ruling Party MP

Albania's Unprecedented AI Expansion in Government

In a striking and deliberately metaphorical announcement, Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama revealed plans for the country's AI minister, Diella, to produce 83 "digital children." These offspring are, in fact, sophisticated digital agents. One AI assistant is set to be assigned to each of the 83 Members of Parliament from the ruling Socialist Party. Rama unveiled this next phase of Albania's AI integration at the Global Dialogue event in Berlin, positioning it as a bold attempt to embed artificial intelligence directly into the machinery of governance. According to NDTV reports, these digital aides will brief MPs on missed chamber proceedings and even suggest strategic political counter-attacks.

The World's First AI Minister: A Controversial Debut

The AI minister, Diella, is a recent addition to the Albanian cabinet. She was introduced in September 2025 via a screen, marking the world's first instance of an AI holding a cabinet-level portfolio. Reuters described the appointment as a radical experiment, placing an algorithm in charge of the country's murky public procurement process. The stated goal was to eliminate human discretion from decisions worth billions and enhance transparency.

However, her debut was chaotic. AP News reported that opposition MPs jeered as the virtual minister "addressed" parliament. Critics quickly dismissed the initiative as a form of techno-theatricality, designed to distract from ongoing systemic corruption. On the other hand, supporters viewed it as a forward-thinking signal to the European Union that Albania is serious about modernizing its bureaucracy.

From Back Office Tool to Political Actor

The "pregnancy" announcement elevates this experiment to a new level. By seeding 83 AI agents directly into the legislature, the government is attempting to evolve AI from a back-office administrative tool into a structural actor in daily politics. If these assistants genuinely summarize sessions, analyze rhetoric, and propose debate tactics, their function extends far beyond simple automation. They could fundamentally shape how elected officials respond, argue, and ultimately vote.

This move propels the government into new legal and philosophical territory. Constitutions are written with human representatives in mind, and accountability is a concept attached to people, not to machine learning models. As The Guardian noted in its coverage, shifting decisions to machines does not de-politicize the process; it simply transfers influence to those who curate the data, train the models, and write the operational rules.

A High Stakes Experiment: Modernization vs Coded Corruption

Defenders of Rama's plan insist there is a clear method behind the futuristic rhetoric. They point to Diella's track record as a customer-service avatar on the e-Albania portal, where she successfully handled approximately one million public-service interactions. They argue that moving this proven system closer to the core of the state represents a logical and progressive step.

Skeptics, however, offer a stark counter-argument. They warn that digitizing processes within a corrupt context risks encoding those same biases at machine speed and scale. One Albanian commentator captured this fear bluntly during Diella's launch, predicting, "Even Diella will be corrupted in Albania."

A Global Case Study in AI Governance

Whatever the reality on the ground, the symbolism of the announcement has already made a global impact. The image of an AI minister "expecting" dozens of algorithmic offspring has appeared in headlines from NDTV to Reuters and AP, sparking a wave of incredulous commentary.

Beneath the spectacle lies a genuine stress-test for statecraft in the age of AI. The core question is whether a government can successfully make an algorithm not only a tool for governance but a visible governing entity—and survive the inevitable questions of legitimacy that follow. Albania has volunteered itself as the first case study. Whether it becomes a template for the future or a cautionary tale will be decided not by the metaphor, but by what the 83 "children" actually do once they enter the chamber.