Albania's digitally-created 'Minister for AI' is 'pregnant with 83 children', PM says

Albania's digitally created minister for AI is pregnant with 83 children, the country's prime minister is reported to have announced. 

Local media say Edi Rama made the tongue-in-cheek remark at the Global Dialogue conference in Berlin, and added that Dellia's 'babies' will become virtual assistants to 83 members of parliament from the Socialist Party. 

During a question-and-answer session, he is quoted as saying: 'So for the first time, Diella is pregnant and with 83 children.

'Each one will serve as an assistant for them, who will participate in parliamentary sessions and will keep a record of everything that happens and will suggest members of parliament. These children will have the knowledge of their mother.' 

The prime minister said the virtual aides will help MPs with day-to-day duties until 2026, including monitoring meetings and providing updates when politicians are away from parliament.

'For example, if you go for coffee and forget to come back to work, this child will say what was said when you were not in the hall and will say who you should counter-attack,' he reportedly told the audience.

It's been suggested that Diella's offspring will also take part in parliamentary sessions, record debates, and even make suggestions to MPs. 

Meanwhile, an opposition politician criticised the prime minister's announcement. 

Local reports say former government minister Tritan Shehu called it 'tasteless' and said it was announced 'to keep people in a trance'. 

The virtual mother-to-be was first introduced in January as a virtual assistant on the government's e-Albania portal, where she is said to have 'helped more than a million applications'. 

The chatbot helps people and businesses obtain state documents and answer official queries. 

She was developed by the National Agency for Information Society in collaboration with Microsoft. Diella works as a large language model trained on vast amounts of online data.

A newer version, called Diella 2.0, was later launched with a voice and an animated avatar dressed in a traditional Albanian costume.

Last month, the government announced that Diella had been promoted to a ministerial position overseeing state contracts with private companies. 

This is despite the fact that Albania's constitution insists that all officials appointed to ministerial roles must be natural people. 

Her name, which means 'sun' in Albanian, does not appear on the official cabinet list approved by Albanian president Bajram Begaj on September 15, but a decree said Rama had full 'responsibility' to establish the virtual minister. 

At the time, Rama insisted that Diella would help root out corruption. He said: 'Not only will we wipe out every potential influence on public biddings – we will also make the process much faster, much more efficient and totally accountable.'

Diella even addressed the Albanian parliament. In a video message, she said: Some have called me 'unconstitutional' because I am not a human being. This has hurt me. 

'Let me remind you, the real danger to constitutions has never been the machines but the inhumane decisions of those in power.'

While some MPs welcomed her speech, others in opposition reacted angrily, banging their hands on tables as her avatar appeared on screen.

Experts said Diella is part of a growing global trend showing how governments are starting to integrate artificial intelligence into politics and administration.