Opposition MPs hurled bottles and copies of the constitution after a speech by a bot recently added to the cabinet
A parliamentary session in Albania erupted into chaos last week after a speech by the world’s first AI-generated government minister triggered an angry backlash from opposition MPs.
The so-called state minister for artificial intelligence, named Diella, appeared on Thursday with a three-minute address delivered on two screens, nearly a week after Prime Minister Edi Rama announced it would join his cabinet.
Diella – the female form of the word for ‘sun’ in Albanian – has been integrated into the government’s digital services platform and tasked with overseeing public procurement. Rama has described the initiative as a symbol of his government’s drive for transparency and innovation, saying it would help shield tenders from corruption. A prototype of the avatar, displayed in traditional Albanian dress, was first unveiled in January.
“I am not here to replace people but to help them,” the avatar told MPs, stressing it had no citizenship, ambition, or personal interests and could embody values “as strictly as every human colleague, maybe even more.”
Opposition lawmakers rejected the move as unconstitutional, arguing the bot was not human, did not hold Albanian nationality and could even open the door to greater corruption. Defending itself, the avatar said the constitution spoke of “institutions at the people’s service,” not of “chromosomes, flesh or blood,” highlighting values of duty, accountability and transparency.
The session quickly descended into chaos. Lawmakers banged on desks and threw bottles and copies of the constitution, forcing an end to the session after just 24 minutes despite the presence of foreign diplomats.
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Politico earlier reported that Rama aims to make Albania a fully cashless economy by 2030, saying he wants people to stop keeping money “under the mattress – next to their AK-47,” as a local joke goes.
Public procurement has long been at the center of graft scandals in the Balkan country, complicating its EU membership bid since it was granted candidate status in 2014.
As AI advances rapidly, researchers warn some systems are learning to rewrite their own code. Earlier this year, Geoffrey Hinton, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and AI pioneer, urged governments to cooperate to ensure the fast-developing technology does not harm humanity.
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