Albania has become the first country in the world to appoint an artificial intelligence–powered virtual minister. The AI system, named Diella, will be responsible for overseeing the highly sensitive sector of public procurement, with the government promising a future of 100% corruption-free tenders.

Prime Minister Edi Rama presented Diella as part of the new cabinet, describing her as “the first government member who is not physically present but virtually created by AI.” The move is seen as a radical step toward digital governance.

Diella, whose name means “Sun” in Albanian, was originally launched in January 2025 as a virtual assistant on the e-Albania platform. Since then, she has already helped citizens with tens of thousands of digital documents and nearly a thousand different public services.

Now, her role expands dramatically. She will be entrusted with handling all matters of public procurement: evaluating bids, making decisions on contracts, and ensuring transparency in government spending. The aim is to remove human interference from one of the most corruption-prone areas of governance.