AI isn’t just helping with desk jobs around the world, but it also seems to be playing a part in administration and governance.
Albania will give all 83 of its MPs their own personal AI to help them govern and make decisions. Albania had earlier appointed an AI bot named Diella as a Cabinet Minister which was responsible for handing out tenders and help eliminate corruption. Albania seems to have since doubled down on the initiative, and has given an AI assistant to all its MPs.
“Diella is pregnant, and she’s expecting 83 kids,” Albania’s PM Edi Rama told reporters. “Each kid for one member of our parliament, which will serve our MPs as an assistant. (The AI) could participate in our parliamentary sessions. It will keep a record of everything that’s happening, it will inform and give suggestions to the MPs on how to react,” he added.
The AI cabinet minister, Diella, also addressed Albania’s parliament for the first time. She said that she was ‘hurt’ by opposition lawmakers who called her unconstitutional. She said machines have never threatened the constitution, and added that she is not meant to replace humans but to assist them. This caused anger among opposition lawmakers who tried to block the speech by AI.
Diella had been inducted into the cabinet last month, as a way to help make Albania “a country where public tenders are 100% free of corruption.” The awarding of tenders has been a source of corruption scandals in Albania. Some experts say Albania is a hub for gangs seeking to launder their money from trafficking drugs and weapons across the world, and a country where corruption is rife in government. This image has made it complicated for Albania to join the EU, which Prime Minister Rama wants done by 2030.
And despite protests by the opposition, the Albanian government seems to want to double down on its AI initiative. It could make sense for an AI bot to be responsible for government contracts. Unlike humans, an AI bot can’t be induced through fear or favour — the bot will have no feelings of greed or avarice, so will likely take the rational decision on contracts based on how it’s been prompted. But there might be other issues for Albania to consider — given how AI bots can be jailbroken through prompt injections, they’d need to be careful that Diella and other AI bots aren’t being manipulated through such techniques.
But this could be the start of a growing trend in government. A candidate has already run for election as Mayor in the US on the promise that he’d defer all his decisions to an AI. AI systems can take human bias and failings out of important decisions, and give optimal answers. If these systems can become robust against technical manipulation, and can give out consistently good decisions, such AI systems could end up managing crucial decisions in governments around the world.