Albania turns to AI in fight against corruption in public contracts

Albania has appointed an AI system as a government minister for public procurement, marking the first time the country has included a virtual official in its cabinet.

The system, called Diella, is presented as part of Prime Minister Edi Rama's plan to make procurement fully transparent and free from corruption. Public tenders have long been considered one of the main gateways for nepotism and money laundering in Albania, issues the country must address to move forward with its EU membership bid.

Yet an AI bot is unlikely to solve these problems. It is unclear how much human oversight will exist, and the system itself remains vulnerable to bias and manipulation.