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Overview
Earlier this year, Albania made global headlines by being the first country to appoint an AI system, called Diella, to a cabinet-level government position. Developed by Albania's National Agency for Information Society in partnership with Microsoft, Diella was formally named "Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence" in Prime Minister Edi Rama's fourth government.1
While newsworthy on its own, its notoriety increased in late October 2025 when Prime Minister Rama announced that Diella was "pregnant" with 83 digital "children," which referred to AI assistants that will be assigned to each Socialist Party Member of Parliament.2
For businesses and legal practitioners alike, Albania's technological advancement offers a window into the potential future of AI's role in government and raises important considerations about how laws and regulations will evolve to address novel AI use cases.
What (or Who) is Diella?
Diella, which means "sun" in Albanian, was created earlier this year in cooperation with Microsoft.3 It first appeared in January 2025 as a virtual assistant on the e-Albania platform, Albania's digital portal for government services, to help Albanians navigate the site, access official documents, and complete transactions with government agencies.
From Virtual Assistant to Minister
In isolation, the jump from virtual assistant to minister within a year seems like a generous promotion. However it is significant in the context of Albania's pursuit of European Union ("EU") membership with a target date of 2030. Brussels has repeatedly identified tackling corruption as a key issue for Albania's EU prospects. Prime Minister Rama has positioned Diella as the solution: an AI system that would evaluate public tenders without human bias, political influence, or the potential for corruption.
The pitch is straightforward: instead of public contracts being awarded by government officials, they will be objectively assessed based on merit, price, and qualifications by an AI system.
Diella is intended to operate at four key stages in the government contracting process. It will help draft terms of reference that define what the government needs, specify eligibility criteria, establish price limits, and verify that submitted documentation is complete and valid.4
Crucially, Diella will not operate autonomously in its decision-making. A human procurement expert will review its recommendations at each stage before they become official,5 thus creating a hybrid system where AI does the analytical heavy lifting, but humans retain final decision making authority. The system is also designed to create an audit trail, making it possible to trace how procurement decisions are made. In theory, the objectivity and transparency embedded in this combined process will negate the possibility of corruption. Prime Minister Rama promised the use of Diella will make public procurement in Albania "100 percent free of corruption."6
The 83 AI "Children"
Each of the 83 AI assistants will serve an individual member of parliament, performing several functions:
- Recording complete transcripts of all parliamentary sessions;
- Providing briefings on missed proceedings;
- Suggesting strategic responses during debates;
- Providing support to members of parliament by leveraging knowledge of EU legislation.7
The Albanian government expects these AI assistants to be operational by the end of 2026, at which point Albania's parliament is set to become the most comprehensively AI-monitored legislative body in the world.
What Does It Mean?
Albania's Diella initiative demonstrates that, as in other domains, the use of AI in government is moving from science fiction to reality. Given this development, and the possibility of it expanding to other jurisdictions and other areas of government, businesses and their advisors should endeavor to understand how these systems work and what they mean for traditional practices where the public and private sectors interact. They should also consider how to advocate for and protect their interests in an AI-mediated regulatory environment.
Whether Albania's specific implementation succeeds or encounters challenges, the broader trend is clear. The legal and business landscape is evolving, and staying informed about AI developments is essential for business that deal directly with governments or are affected by government decision-making.
Footnotes
1 Office of the Prime Minister of Albania, "Diella: Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence": kryeministria.al/en/ministrat/diella/.
2 Office of the Prime Minister of Albania, "Prime Minister Rama at the 'Berlin Global Dialogue'" (October 25, 2025): kryeministria.al/en/newsroom/kryeministri-rama-ne-berlin-global-dialogue/.
3 AP News, "Albania's prime minister appoints an AI-generated 'minister' to tackle corruption" (September 12, 2025): apnews.com/article/albania-new-cabinet-parliament-ai-minister-diella-corruption/
4 Time Magazine, "The World's First AI-Powered Minister Tests the Future of Government" (October 10, 2025): time.com/7324934/albania-ai-minister-diella/.
5 Ibid.
6 AP News, "Albania's prime minister appoints an AI-generated 'minister' to tackle corruption" (September 12, 2025): apnews.com/article/albania-new-cabinet-parliament-ai-minister-diella-corruption/
7 Office of the Prime Minister of Albania, "Prime Minister Rama at the 'Berlin Global Dialogue'" (October 25, 2025): kryeministria.al/en/newsroom/kryeministri-rama-ne-berlin-global-dialogue/.
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