Albania appoints world’s first AI minister

Albania has made history by appointing the world’s first artificial intelligence–powered minister.

Named Diella — meaning “sunshine” in Albanian — the fully digital minister will manage all public procurement, Prime Minister Edi Rama announced on Thursday. Diella is a virtual officeholder, created entirely from pixels, code, and AI.

At a Socialist Party assembly in Tirana, where the latest cabinet reshuffle was unveiled, Rama introduced Diella as the government’s only non-human member. “Diella is the first member not physically present, but virtually created by artificial intelligence,” he said.

Rama explained that all tender decisions will gradually shift from human ministries to Diella, who he described as “the servant of public procurement.”

The rollout will be incremental, with the goal of making Albania a country where public tenders are fully transparent and funds are completely traceable. “This is not science fiction, but the duty of Diella,” he added.

Diella is already familiar to Albanians, powering the e-Albania digital services platform that provides access to nearly all government services online. Her avatar, a young woman in traditional Albanian attire, has been publicly introduced.

In addition to overseeing tenders, Diella is tasked with recruiting talent from around the world and combating administrative prejudice and rigidity. Albania’s public procurement system has long faced corruption challenges, frequently highlighted by the European Union in its rule-of-law assessments.

Rama, who won a historic fourth term in May 2025, has pledged to pursue European Union membership by 2030.