Albania’s prime minister introduced an AI-generated “minister” to parliament, casting the avatar—named Diella and built with Microsoft—as a tool to speed services and bolster transparency as the country seeks EU accession by 2030. The bot delivered a brief address from large screens, emphasizing accountability and non-discriminatory service, and noted it would support, not replace, human officials. Opposition lawmakers denounced the move as a cover for graft and disrupted proceedings, then boycotted a program vote that nevertheless passed 82–0 in the 140-seat chamber. Diella has functioned as a virtual assistant on the e‑Albania platform, helping process roughly a million digital inquiries and documents. The rollout underscores Europe’s accelerating push to digitize public services amid rising scrutiny of AI’s role in governance.
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