Meet Diella, the AI that’s trying to end Albanian corruption

Albania’s new cabinet minister focusing on corruption will never take a sick day and doesn’t have any use for cash or power. Meet Deilla, the chatbot that’s charged with running the country’s public procurement in an effort to lower corruption by officials.

It’s something of a big promotion for the AI device, which had previously been assisting users who were encountering troubles navigating the state’s e-Albania portal, a position it started in January.

“Diella, the first cabinet member who is not physically present, but has been virtually created by AI”, will help Albania become “a country where public tenders are 100% free of corruption,” Prime Minister Edi Rama said earlier this week .

As part of its new responsibilities, Diella will assess every proposal made by a private company, keeping an eye out for potential signs of money laundering, drug trafficking, or other illegal activities. From there, Diella will have the right to “hire talents here from all over the world,” Rama said .

Reports from earlier this year indicate Diella is built on large language models from OpenAI and Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform.

Corruption has been a problem in Albania for years and could be a key factor preventing the country from becoming a part of the European Union. Albania has been trying to join the EU since 2009, but justices have cited the country’s rampant corruption as a roadblock.

Rama said he’s confident that the problem will be significantly reduced with Diella, adding that Albania will be a country where proposals are “100% incorruptible and where every public fund that goes through the tender procedure is 100% legible.”

It was earlier this summer that Rama first suggested the country could someday have a digital minister. No one expected it to happen this fast – and even fewer thought it would be the steward they had interacted with as they struggled to find court cases or required forms.

As of Friday morning, Diella, who is reflected online in the avatar of a young woman dressed in traditional Albanian clothing, was pulling double duty, fulfilling both her new job as a cabinet minister and continuing to help people with their e-Albania questions.