The Rise of the AI Minister: Governance at the Edge of Algorithms

In September 2025, Albania made global headlines by appointing Diella, an artificial intelligence system, as “Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence” with a mandate to oversee public procurement. With this move, Albania became the first country to formally integrate an AI entity into its cabinet, marking a striking experiment in algorithmic governance.

From Virtual Assistant to Cabinet Role

Diella did not begin its life as a minister. Earlier in 2025, it served as a virtual assistant on Albania’s e-Albania platform, helping citizens navigate digital documentation and administrative procedures. Developed under the supervision of the National Agency for Information Society (AKSHI), the system was designed to streamline access to public services.

Later that year, a presidential decree authorised Prime Minister Edi Rama to appoint Diella to the cabinet as Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence. The AI’s designated task: to progressively manage the awarding of public tenders and reduce political interference in procurement. Rama described Diella as “the first cabinet member who is not physically present but virtually created by AI,” pledging it would make procurement “100% corruption-free.”

Shortly after the announcement, Diella even addressed the Albanian parliament through a digital avatar, the first time any AI system had spoken before a national legislature. Yet its legal status remains ambiguous. Under Albania’s constitution, cabinet positions are reserved for natural persons, meaning that Diella’s decisions are likely advisory, requiring human countersignature or validation. Legal scholars have noted the potential constitutional tension, while political observers question whether such an appointment enhances transparency or simply projects a veneer of innovation.

Critics argue that delegating such power to a non-human entity risks entrenching existing power structures rather than dismantling them. If the algorithms behind Diella’s decisions are opaque, the system could become a new instrument of control, one harder to scrutinise than its human predecessors.

Canada’s Contrasting Approach: Human at the Helm

While Albania has ventured into uncharted territory, Canada has taken a more conventional path. In May 2025, Prime Minister Mark Carney created a new portfolio, the Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, appointing Evan Solomon as its first holder.

Solomon’s mandate focuses on policy coordination, fostering partnerships with industry, and guiding the ethical integration of AI technologies across public and private sectors. The ministry’s mission is to promote innovation while maintaining strong human oversight, ensuring that governance remains firmly in human hands. Canada’s model presents AI as a domain of leadership, not a leader in itself.

In the following months, Solomon unveiled several initiatives under the Scale AI Cluster, reaffirming Canada’s ambition to remain a global hub for responsible AI development. His public statements have consistently emphasised balance: advancing adoption while upholding rigorous data-protection and ethical standards, a distinctly human-centred interpretation of AI governance.

What This Means for Procurement and Public Governance

The contrast between Albania and Canada reveals two competing paradigms: AI as ruler and AI as tool. Procurement sits at the heart of this debate. The process has historically been vulnerable to inefficiency, favouritism and corruption, all problems that AI promises to solve through automation and data-driven decision-making.

Yet these systems are only as impartial as their training data. If past procurement data reflect political or institutional bias, AI risks reproducing the same inequalities at greater scale and speed. Accountability is another major concern. When AI systems err or discriminate, who bears responsibility? A human minister can be questioned, sanctioned or removed from office; an algorithm cannot. Without audit trails, transparency protocols and legal frameworks, governance risks turning into a black box.

Public legitimacy also matters. Citizens expect their governments to act with moral discernment, empathy and accountability, human qualities that machines cannot convincingly replicate. For AI to contribute meaningfully to governance, particularly in sensitive areas like procurement, it must operate within robust human oversight.

The future is likely to be hybrid: AI as an adviser or analytical engine, supporting ministers rather than replacing them. Such a model preserves efficiency while maintaining accountability, ensuring that technology remains a tool for governance, not its master.

Sources:

Reuters “Albania Appoints AI Bot as Minister to Tackle Corruption”

https://www.reuters.com/technology/albania-appoints-ai-bot-minister-tackle-corruption-2025-09-11

The Guardian “Albania’s Diella: The World’s First AI Minister” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/11/albania-diella-ai-minister-public-procurement

European Western Balkans “Albania’s AI Minister Dilemma”