Albania’s new AI minister, Diella, delivered her first speech to Parliament on Thursday. “I’m not here to replace people, but to help them,” the AI entity created by Microsoft stated in a video displayed before elected human officials.
Prime Minister Edi Rama has even opened a social media platform for Diella where the public can allegedly engage with the AI Minister directly. “Hello, I am Diella, Thanks to my hard work as your assistant, I was elected Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence in the new government. My mission now is to make the government’s work easier every day,” a Facebook video-presentation on the Diella account said.
The Facebook comments show the people’s disgust. “Ahahahaha even a donkey understands what you have in mind… meanwhile the people have no work, no food, no home, no medicine, health care is for money or you die and you make fun of the people, come on state, come on live communism and dictatorship,” one user wrote. “You have found a sheep people who do not oppose you with your crazy experiments. But not anymore. Our children have the right to be elected and to choose who they know will represent them. And who will answer to the law. This step is madness,” another commented.
Parliament was in an upheaval after Diella’s speech. Opposition MPs refused to participate in Thursday’s ballot as they cannot take the words of a programmed AI entity seriously or see its presence as anything other than an utter embarrassment. “Diella is not a vision, but a virtual facade to hide this government’s gigantic daily thefts,” Opposition Democratic Party MP Gazment Bardhi rebuked. “Socialist MPs did not listen to the prime minister, nor to the ministers about their concrete objectives, nor to the opposition that might be made to them, but voted like sheep, creating an unprecedented situation in these three decades of post-communism,” Bushati said.
Traditionally, new cabinet presentations often last for hours. Lawmakers left the building after 25 minutes and nothing was accomplished. The people are furious. Diella is not viewed as a step toward ending corruption but as a mockery of the constitutional republic.