Albania’s government debuts its AI ‘minister’ to parliament

Enio Kaso, head of the Department of Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrency Licencing shows the AI ‘minister’ Diella during a conference call in Tirana, Albania (Vlasov Sulaj/AP)

An AI-generated government “minister” was debuted in the Albanian parliament on Thursday, with Prime Minister Edi Rama presenting the bot as a symbol of his government’s push for transparency and innovation.

“The constitution speaks of institutions at the people’s service. It doesn’t speak of chromosomes, of flesh or blood,” the avatar declared in a three-minute address delivered from two large screens.