Diella AI Virtual Assistant and Procurement Oversight System (eAlbania)
Overview
Diella, whose name means 'sun' in Albanian, is an artificial intelligence virtual assistant developed by the National Agency for Information Society of Albania (AKSHI) in cooperation with Microsoft. The system was introduced on 19 January 2025 as a chatbot integrated into the eAlbania platform, Albania's centralised government services portal through which approximately 95 percent of public services have been available exclusively online since 2022. Diella was built using OpenAI's large language models accessed via Microsoft's Azure cloud platform, with AKSHI's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory designing the workflows and scripts that guide the system's behaviour when responding to citizens' requests. The AI director at AKSHI, Enio Kaso, leads the development team. The system uses a fine-tuned version of OpenAI's GPT model to understand and respond in conversational Albanian, enabling citizens to navigate public services and receive guidance on document issuance.
Diella 1.0 launched as a text-based chatbot on the eAlbania portal, responding to citizens' questions by guiding them to the correct government service. Several months later, Diella 2.0 was introduced with expanded capabilities including voice interaction and an animated avatar depicting a woman in the traditional Albanian clothing of Zadrima, a historical region in northern Albania. Albanian actress Anila Bisha provided both the likeness and the voice used for Diella's avatar on the eAlbania platform, under an agreement valid until December 2025. The system assists citizens with navigating approximately 1,000 public services available through the platform, processing inquiries and facilitating the issuance of digital documents. By September 2025, Diella had registered 972,000 interactions with citizens, while 36,000 documents issued through the platform carried its digital seal, establishing a new standard in Albanian public administration for AI-assisted document processing.
In a significant expansion of the system's role, on 12 September 2025, Prime Minister Edi Rama formally appointed Diella as 'Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence' in the fourth Rama government, following a presidential decree authorising the creation of a virtual AI minister. This made Diella the first AI system in the world to be named in a cabinet-level government role. The appointment was motivated by Albania's persistent challenges with corruption in public procurement, which has been a major obstacle to the country's European Union accession bid. Albania ranked 80th out of 180 countries in Transparency International's 2024 corruption index, and the government has set a target of EU membership by 2030.
In its ministerial capacity, Diella was entrusted with oversight of all public tender decisions, operating at four stages of the procurement contract process: drafting terms of reference, specifying eligibility criteria, setting price upper-bound limits, and verifying document validity. Prime Minister Rama stated that Diella 'never sleeps, she doesn't need to be paid, she has no personal interests' and claimed that with Diella's oversight, public tenders would become '100 percent corruption-free' and 'every public fund submitted to the tender procedure will be perfectly transparent.' A critical safeguard in the procurement oversight function is that human procurement experts must approve all AI recommendations before they take effect, maintaining a human-in-the-loop oversight model for procurement decisions.
On 18 September 2025, Rama presented a video of Diella delivering a three-minute speech to the Albanian parliament from two large screens. In the address, the AI stated: 'I'm not here to replace people, but to help them' and 'The Constitution speaks of institutions at the people's service. It doesn't speak of chromosomes, of flesh or blood.' The presentation prompted immediate opposition protests. Gazmend Bardhi of the Democratic Party described Diella as 'a propaganda fantasy' and 'a virtual facade to hide this government's gigantic daily thefts,' calling it 'buffoonery.' Opposition lawmakers banged tables and boycotted the subsequent vote on the Cabinet's programme, which nonetheless passed with 82 votes in favour in the 140-seat parliament. A court challenge to the constitutionality of Diella's appointment was initiated, as Albania's constitution requires ministers to be natural persons.
Diella 2.0 also announced plans to expand further, with Prime Minister Rama revealing that the system would generate 83 virtual AI assistants for ruling-party members of parliament. These parliamentary copilots, planned to function through 2026 as an experiment in automating legislative operations, would brief MPs on legislative matters, summarise parliamentary absences, record debate proceedings, and propose counterarguments to proposed legislation.
The system has attracted significant expert commentary on risks and governance gaps. Technology governance specialists have emphasised that Diella should not be seen as a substitute for governance, legal frameworks, or human judgement. Concerns have been raised about the system's vulnerability to bias from flawed input data and algorithms, susceptibility to manipulation despite automation, and the absence of clear accountability frameworks for erroneous AI decisions. Albania must comply with the EU AI Act as part of its accession process, requiring risk assessments, bias detection, cybersecurity monitoring, and operational documentation. The Context News analysis noted that the system was built using Azure OpenAI models but raised questions about digital sovereignty given the reliance on foreign-made AI infrastructure, potentially vulnerable to cyberattacks. Public scepticism was also documented, with citizens questioning whether the AI itself might be corrupted or used as a scapegoat for continued malfeasance.
Classification
AI Capabilities
Use Cases
Social Protection Functions
| SP Pillar (Primary) | Social assistance |
Programme Details
| Programme Name | eAlbania Digital Government Services Platform |
| Programme Type | Other |
| System Level | Implementation/delivery chain |
| Automation Subtype | (a) Document processing and generative staff assistance |
Albania's centralised digital government services platform through which approximately 95 percent of public services are available exclusively online. The platform provides access to around 1,000 government services including document issuance, public service navigation, and since September 2025, AI-supervised public procurement processes.
Implementation Details
| Implementation Type | Foundation model |
| Lifecycle Stage | Monitoring, Maintenance and Decommissioning |
| Model Provenance | API-accessed third-party |
| Compute Environment | Commercial cloud |
| Compute Provider | Microsoft Azure |
| Sovereignty Quadrant | III — Compute-Intensive Cloud with safeguards |
| Data Residency | Not documented |
| Cross-Border Transfer | Not documented |
Agentic AI
| Is Agentic | Partial |
| Pipeline | Diella operates as a conversational AI assistant for citizen service queries (non-agentic) and as a four-stage procurement oversight tool that drafts terms of reference, specifies eligibility criteria, sets price upper bounds, and verifies document validity (partially agentic with human approval required at each stage). |
| Autonomy | Supervised |
| Override Points | Human procurement experts must approve all AI recommendations before they take effect. The system provides analysis and recommendations but final decisions remain with human officials. |
Risk & Oversight
| Decision Criticality | High |
| Human Oversight | HITL |
| Development Process | Mix of in-house and third-party |
| Highest Risk Category | Governance and institutional oversight risks |
| Risk Assessment Status | Not assessed |
Documented Risk Events
Opposition Democratic Party filed a court challenge to the constitutionality of Diella's ministerial appointment, as the Albanian constitution requires ministers to be natural persons. Actress Anila Bisha disputed the use of her likeness and voice for Diella's avatar beyond the original agreement terms. Context News analysis raised digital sovereignty concerns regarding reliance on foreign-made AI infrastructure.
Risk Dimensions
Governance and institutional oversight risks
Market, sovereignty and industry structure risks
Model-related risks
Impact Dimensions
Accountability, transparency and redress
Autonomy, human dignity and due process
Systemic and societal
Safeguards
Deployment & Outcomes
| Deployment Status | Full Production Deployment |
| Year Initiated | 2025 |
| Scale / Coverage | 972,000 citizen interactions and 36,000 documents with digital seal by September 2025; nationwide coverage across eAlbania platform serving all Albanian citizens |
| Funding Source | Albanian government budget; Microsoft partnership (terms not publicly disclosed) |
| Technical Partners | Microsoft (Azure cloud infrastructure and OpenAI large language models); AKSHI Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (workflow design, scripts, and system integration) |
Outcomes / Results
972,000 citizen interactions processed by September 2025. 36,000 documents issued with Diella's digital seal. System expanded from text-only chatbot (v1.0) to voice-enabled avatar assistant (v2.0). Appointed as world's first AI cabinet-level minister for procurement oversight. Government programme vote passed 82-0 (opposition boycotted) in 140-seat parliament. Plans announced for 83 AI parliamentary assistants for MPs.
Challenges
Constitutional challenge to AI ministerial appointment pending in courts. No clear legal framework for AI accountability in procurement decisions. Reliance on foreign cloud infrastructure (Microsoft Azure) raises digital sovereignty concerns for EU accession candidate. Vulnerability to bias in procurement analysis from flawed training data. No published independent audit or risk assessment. Actress Anila Bisha disputed use of her likeness. Public scepticism about whether AI can genuinely address systemic corruption. Opposition parties characterise the appointment as propaganda. Albania must align with EU AI Act requirements including risk assessments, bias detection, and cybersecurity monitoring.
Sources
- SRC-003-ALB-001 Al Jazeera (2025) 'Albania appoints AI bot minister to fight corruption in world first', Al Jazeera, 12 September. Available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/12/albania-appoints-ai-bot-minister-to-fight-corruption-in-world-first (Accessed: 25 March 2026).
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/12/albania-appoints-ai-bot-minister-to-fight-corruption-in-world-first - SRC-005-ALB-001 Context News (2025) 'Albania's new AI bot minister: hype or help?', Context by Thomson Reuters Foundation, 2025. Available at: https://www.context.news/ai/albanias-new-ai-bot-minister-hype-or-help (Accessed: 25 March 2026).
https://www.context.news/ai/albanias-new-ai-bot-minister-hype-or-help - SRC-006-ALB-001 Digital Watch Observatory (2025) 'Diella 2.0 set to deliver 83 new AI assistants to aid Albania's MPs', Digital Watch Observatory, 2025. Available at: https://dig.watch/updates/diella-2-0-set-to-deliver-83-new-ai-assistants-to-aid-albanias-mps (Accessed: 25 March 2026).
https://dig.watch/updates/diella-2-0-set-to-deliver-83-new-ai-assistants-to-aid-albanias-mps - SRC-002-ALB-001 Euronews (2025) 'Albania appoints world's first AI government minister to root out corruption', Euronews, 12 September. Available at: https://www.euronews.com/next/2025/09/12/albania-appoints-worlds-first-ai-government-minister-to-root-out-corruption (Accessed: 25 March 2026).
https://www.euronews.com/next/2025/09/12/albania-appoints-worlds-first-ai-government-minister-to-root-out-corruption - SRC-004-ALB-001 Fortune (2025) 'Albania's AI-generated minister addresses parliament, says constitution doesn't speak of chromosomes, of flesh or blood', Fortune, 19 September. Available at: https://fortune.com/2025/09/19/albania-ai-generated-minister-parliament-diella/ (Accessed: 25 March 2026).
https://fortune.com/2025/09/19/albania-ai-generated-minister-parliament-diella/ - SRC-001-ALB-001 Perrigo, B. (2025) 'Albania's AI-Powered Minister Tests the Future of Government', TIME, September. Available at: https://time.com/7324934/albania-ai-minister-diella/ (Accessed: 25 March 2026).
https://time.com/7324934/albania-ai-minister-diella/
How to Cite
DCI AI Hub (2026). 'Diella AI Virtual Assistant and Procurement Oversight System (eAlbania)', AI Hub AI Tracker, case ALB-001. Digital Convergence Initiative. Available at: https://socialprotectionai.org/use-case/ALB-001