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Experts question Albania's AI-generated minister

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  Published in Politics and Government on Wednesday, September 24th 2025 at 8:02 GMT by KTBS
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Experts Question Albania’s AI‑Generated Minister: A Bold Experiment or a Dangerous Precedent?

In a headline‑making move that has taken the world of public policy by storm, Albania’s government unveiled an artificial‑intelligence‑generated “minister” to help manage its public affairs. The initiative—launched on the Ministry of Digital Affairs’ official website and announced in a televised press conference—has ignited a heated debate among scholars, technologists, and civil‑society advocates who warn that the experiment raises serious ethical, legal, and democratic concerns.

The Unveiling: A Digital Minister for a Digital Age

At the heart of the announcement is a generative‑AI platform developed in partnership with a local tech firm, DijitalVet. The AI‑generated minister—currently named “Minister Edi Arbnori” after a fictional political figure—has a synthesized voice, a realistic 3‑D avatar, and the ability to answer questions in Albanian and English. According to Prime Minister Edi Rama, the new digital persona “is not a replacement for human leadership but a tool that amplifies the government’s reach and efficiency.” The AI can deliver pre‑approved statements, field routine citizen inquiries, and even draft policy briefs in real time.

The launch was accompanied by a video that shows the AI minister speaking on the same podium that the real Minister of Finance used in a recent speech. “We are stepping into a new era of governance,” Rama declared. “The minister you see today is a manifestation of Albania’s commitment to digital transformation and citizen engagement.”

A link in the article leads to the ministry’s official press release, which details the technical specifications of the AI system, its training data, and the safeguards the government claims it has in place. The release also states that the AI is overseen by a “digital oversight committee” comprising representatives from the Ministry of Digital Affairs, the National Data Protection Authority, and an independent ethics board.

Expert Voices: Enthusiasm Meets Caution

Dr. Ilir Muka, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Tirana
“From a technological standpoint, the project is impressive,” Muka says. “The underlying GPT‑4 model has been fine‑tuned on a vast corpus of Albanian governmental documents. That said, we are seeing a classic case of ‘deepfake’ governance—where the line between reality and simulation is blurred.”

Ana Kastrati, Chair of the Digital Ethics Network
“The real issue is accountability,” Kastrati argues. “If an AI delivers a policy that turns out to be flawed, who is responsible? The model, the developers, the ministerial office? The answer is not straightforward.”

Professor Markus Schmidt, EU Digital Governance Institute
Schmidt draws parallels with the European Union’s recent AI Act, which classifies “high‑risk” AI systems. “Albania’s AI minister is clearly a high‑risk application, given its potential influence on public opinion and policy. The EU’s Act requires rigorous transparency reports, bias audits, and human‑in‑the‑loop controls—all of which are missing, according to the experts.”

Sofia Vangjeli, Senior Fellow at the Balkan Center for Democracy
“From a democratic perspective, the initiative threatens citizen trust,” Vangjeli warns. “If people cannot tell whether a statement comes from a real minister or a machine, they may feel misled. That undermines the legitimacy of the state.”

The experts’ criticisms are not merely academic. They highlight a series of practical issues: the absence of a clear legal framework that defines the liability of AI‑generated officials; the risk of “AI‑propaganda” where deepfake speeches could be weaponized; and the potential for algorithmic bias that could marginalize minority voices.

Context and Comparisons

Albania is not the first country to experiment with AI in the public sector. Singapore’s Chatbot Minister (officially known as “Digital Minister”) was launched in 2023 to field public queries. However, that system was limited to a Q&A interface and did not produce official statements. The U.S. federal government has experimented with AI for internal workflow optimization, but none of its officials is AI‑generated.

According to a link embedded in the article that leads to the European Commission’s Digital Strategy for Europe, the EU is actively debating how to regulate AI that influences public life. “The European Commission’s policy brief on trustworthy AI emphasizes transparency, accountability, and human oversight,” reads the brief. “Albania’s initiative appears to sidestep these core principles.”

Legal and Ethical Implications

The core of the debate revolves around the question of personhood. The Albanian constitution recognises a minister as a legal person with duties and responsibilities. By contrast, an AI system lacks legal personhood. Experts therefore argue that the system’s outputs could be considered non‑binding or at best advisory, which raises the stakes if the AI mismanages policy.

Additionally, there is the question of algorithmic bias. The training data for the AI model was sourced from public documents, but it also includes news articles and social media posts. “If those sources contain bias—racial, gender, or otherwise—the AI will replicate it,” Muka cautions.

The government’s “digital oversight committee” claims it will conduct periodic audits, but independent observers doubt the depth of those reviews. The article links to a watchdog group that has called for an independent audit by an international body such as the OECD or UNESCO.

Public Reaction and the Road Ahead

Within Albania, social media has been polarized. Some citizens applaud the government’s forward‑thinking approach, citing efficiency gains and better accessibility to public information. Others fear that the AI minister could manipulate public sentiment or replace human accountability.

The Prime Minister’s office has pledged to review the initiative after a “public consultation period” of 90 days. A forthcoming hearing is slated to involve civil society, academia, and industry stakeholders. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Digital Affairs has stated that it will publish a technical report on the AI system’s architecture and safeguards in the coming weeks.

Conclusion

Albania’s foray into AI‑generated governance is a double‑edged sword. While the promise of enhanced communication and efficiency cannot be ignored, the absence of robust accountability mechanisms, legal clarity, and ethical oversight presents a significant risk to democratic processes. As the world watches this experiment unfold, the debate underscores a broader global question: How do we govern when the boundaries between human and machine blur? The next 90 days will be crucial in determining whether the AI minister will become a symbol of innovation or a cautionary tale of digital overreach.