Albania’s AI-generated Minister “Diella” speaks through the parliamentary session for the voting of the brand new authorities of Albania, in Tirana on September 18, 2025.
| Picture Credit score: AFP
An actor whose face was utilized by Albania’s authorities for an AI chatbot that it promoted to be a “Minister” advised AFP on Wednesday (February 11, 2026) that she had launched a authorized combat to cease using her picture and accused the federal government of “exploitation”.
Prime Minister Edi Rama introduced in September that an AI system, dubbed Diella, would oversee a brand new public tenders portfolio as a “Minister” that he pledged would minimize corruption.
The transfer drew criticism from the opposition and consultants who questioned the system’s accountability and transparency.
Additionally Learn | Diella: Digital minister
Effectively-known Albanian actor Anila Bisha, whose face and voice have been used to create Diella’s avatar, mentioned she had not authorised her id to be used in that means.
Ms. Bisha mentioned she filed a petition with the executive court docket earlier this week requesting the suspension of using her picture.
“It is an exploitation of my id and my private information,” the 57-year-old actress advised AFP.
In line with Ms. Bisha, she had initially signed a contract authorising using her picture till the top of 2025 to symbolize a digital assistant on a web based authorities companies portal.
However after Mr. Rama’s authorities introduced that Diella would turn out to be a minister, a video that includes a computer-generated model of her addressed Parliament.
Within the video, purportedly made with AI, the “Minister” appeared as a lady wearing a standard Albanian outfit and mentioned it was “not right here to switch individuals”.
Ms. Bisha additionally found that the Nationwide Company for Info Society, which developed the AI, filed a patent on her picture and voice with out informing her — a transfer that she says affected her potential to work.
Regardless of reaching out to authorities within the hope of negotiating an answer, she acquired no reply and determined to take authorized motion.
Diella, which implies “solar” in Albanian, is accountable for all selections regarding public procurement tenders — in a transfer that Mr. Rama promised would make the method “corruption-free”.
Printed – February 11, 2026 08:02 pm IST