Letting Sunshine In: Albania Appoints a New Anti-Corruption Minister – a Bot
NEED TO KNOW
Letting Sunshine In: Albania Appoints a New Anti-Corruption Minister – a Bot
ALBANIA
Last month, a new minister named Diella gave her inaugural address to parliament. Clad in a traditional Albanian dress and embroidered scarf, she told lawmakers via a video appearance that she was here to root out corruption and nepotism.
What makes her different is that Diella is the world’s first government minister that is made up entirely of pixels, code, and algorithms, a creature born of artificial intelligence.
And she’s making a splash, with some saying the move is a sign that Albania is getting serious about digitizing itself and cleaning up corruption in the public contracting process.
“AI is still a new tool – but if it is programmed correctly, when you put a bid in online, you can see clearly and more closely if a company meets the conditions and the criteria,” Andi Hoxhaj of King’s College London, who specializes in the Western Balkans, corruption, and the rule of law, told the BBC. “There’s a lot at stake. If (Diella) is a vehicle or mechanism that could be used towards that goal (of addressing corruption), it’s worth exploring.”
Diella’s path to a ministerial post began soon after elections in May, when Prime Minister Edi Rama, flush from victory, mused that one day the country could have a digital minister and even an AI prime minister. Few took him seriously.
Albania, one of the most corrupt countries in Europe, has seen some huge graft scandals recently, including the detention of the mayor of the capital of Tirana for money laundering and corruption involving public contracts.
As a result, the prime minister took Diella, who has been serving as an AI-powered virtual assistant since January on the official e-Albania platform, expanded her role to procurement, overseeing all public contracts.
Now, with Diella (sunshine in Albanian), Albania will be a country where public tenders are “100 percent incorruptible and where every public fund that goes through the tender procedure is 100 percent transparent,” Rama said. “This is not science fiction – not only will we wipe out every potential influence on public bids, we will also make the process much faster, much more efficient, and totally accountable.”
“(Diella also) puts pressure on other members of the cabinet and national agencies to run and think differently,” he added. “This is the biggest advantage I’m expecting from this minister.”
The move is important for Albania’s future, say analysts. Albania, a country of 2.8 million people, is a candidate for European Union membership. However, cleaning up corruption is a key condition for its acceptance and has held the country back in the accession process.
Still, not everyone is pleased. Some called the move a political stunt, warning that Diella cannot curb corruption and that it is unconstitutional. The opposition has vowed to challenge the appointment in the Constitutional Court.
“The goal is nothing more than to attract attention,” said former prime minister and opposition leader Sali Berisha, who has himself been accused of graft. “It is impossible to curb corruption with Diella. And who will control Diella?”
Still, other countries, including France, have been turning to AI to help with running public services.
A French program called “Albert” will be used by tax agents, for example, to deal with the 16 million queries they receive each year. The AI tool will also be programmed to transcribe legal hearings and medical reports, track forest fires, and manage human resources.
Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, Mark Sewards, a Labour Party politician, unveiled an artificial intelligence clone of himself designed to answer questions and assist with constituents’ queries around the clock.
Still, there is concern, especially about AI-generated mistakes, its ability to be manipulated, and also its power to generate convincing text and images that are fakes and promote disinformation.
Analysts say that AI officials such as Diella could make a difference if implemented correctly with well-designed systems, making processes more consistent, transparent, and accountable, provided they have strong oversight.
“The government presented this as a way to reduce human discretion in sensitive areas such as public procurement…,” wrote Erjon Curraj, a digital transformation analyst at the Science and Innovation for Development Center in Tirana. “But whether Diella becomes a milestone or a misstep will depend less on her algorithms and more on the legal frameworks, institutional safeguards, and state capacities that give this initiative substance.”
Diella herself has defended her appointment, promoting herself as better than a human in terms of accountability, transparency, and fairness: “I assure you, I embody these values as rigorously as any human colleague, perhaps even more so,” she told lawmakers.
“Some have called me ‘unconstitutional’ because I am not a human being – that hurt me,” Diella added. “Let me remind you, the real danger to a constitution has never been the machines but the inhumane decisions of those in power.”
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
New French Prime Minister Resigns, Deepening France’s Political Crisis
FRANCE
France’s Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu resigned Monday, less than a month since he was appointed, deepening the country’s political crisis, Le Monde reported.
Lecornu, who has had the shortest term as prime minister in modern French history, resigned just hours after he presented his new cabinet.
“You can’t be prime minister when the conditions simply aren’t there,” Lecornu said. “Political parties keep acting as if each of them held a majority in the National Assembly.”
In an effort to diffuse a deepening political crisis and to pass an austerity budget for next year, French President Emmanuel Macron in September picked Lecornu, a former defense minister and a close ally, for the job.
However, Lecornu failed to unite the deeply divided French parliament to approve the budget – a task his immediate predecessors, François Bayrou and Michel Barnier, also failed to do, CNBC News added.
The divisions in parliament arose from snap elections called by Macron last summer in an effort to strengthen his mandate, a move that backfired after no party won a majority, which left the legislature fractured between three rival blocs.
Previous governments pushed the last three budgets through parliament without a vote, a procedure allowed by the constitution but strongly criticized by the opposition.
Even though Lecornu promised lawmakers they were going to be able to vote on the new budget bill, leftist and far-right parties said they would back a no-confidence vote.
Now, after five prime ministers in less than two years – none able to build a stable majority – the country is at an impasse, say analysts. So far, Macron has resisted the numerous calls to call new legislative elections and has ruled out stepping down himself before the end of his mandate in 2027.
However, public frustration over austerity measures and a government seen as arrogant and detached from everyday realities has only deepened, spilling into the streets.
On Thursday, tens of thousands of people across France took to the streets in massive strikes and protests against the austerity budgets and public spending cuts, calling for tax hikes on the rich. Demonstrators clashed with police, who fired tear gas on the crowd and arrested about 140 people nationwide, Al Jazeera noted.
Pro and Anti-Government Protesters Rally in Ecuador After State of Emergency
ECUADOR
Supporters and opponents of Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa marched Sunday in the country’s capital of Quito after the government declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces, a move that followed demonstrations over the removal of a fuel subsidy, the Associated Press reported.
“Diesel goes up, everything goes up,” and “Out with Noboa,” yelled protesters at a park, where they encountered larger numbers of pro-government supporters.
Police, who said there were no injuries or arrests, used tear gas to disperse the crowd after some demonstrators tried to breach the security cordon protecting the park.
Late Saturday, the government announced a state of emergency would take effect starting Sunday at midnight in 10 provinces, citing “serious internal unrest.” The order limits freedom of assembly but does not forbid peaceful demonstrations.
The provinces have large Indigenous populations and have been at the center of unrest that began two weeks ago when the country’s largest such group organized anti-government protests following Noboa’s decision last month to cut fuel subsidies.
Noboa said the move would save the country $1.1 billion, but the measure raised diesel prices from $1.80 per gallon to $2.80, Agence France-Presse previously reported.
Diesel is essential in Ecuador for agricultural machinery and transportation, and demonstrators who took part in protests last month said the price increase was threatening their livelihoods.
A violent clash between Indigenous protesters and police on Sept. 28 led to one death, several injured, and nearly 100 people being detained. On Sunday, demonstrators also called for the detainees to be released.
Meanwhile, Noboa has refused to reverse the fuel subsidy cut, writing in a post on X that those who turn to violence or engage in criminal activities will be held accountable under the law.
Peace Agreement Ends Violent Protests in Pakistan-Administered Kashmir
PAKISTAN/ KASHMIR
Pakistani authorities reached an agreement with the civil rights alliance, Awami Action Committee (AAC), over the weekend, restoring peace to Pakistan-administered Kashmir after days of violent protests that killed at least 10 people, the Associated Press reported.
According to the deal, the regional government of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, led by Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq, will continue subsidizing wheat and electricity and implement more than three dozen other demands, including reducing the number of ministries and improving health, education, and other public services.
The breakthrough arrived two days after Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif sent a high-level delegation to Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, to hold talks with leaders of the AAC, a civil rights alliance formed to fight for local rights in the predominantly rural region.
Last week, thousands of people led by the AAC took to the streets of Muzaffarabad, calling for an end to lucrative benefits for the political class, including free electricity and expensive cars, Agence France-Presse wrote. Police fired tear gas to contain the crowds.
In a post on X, Pakistani Federal Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry said that the regional government granted all of the demonstrators’ demands and that the protests were now over.
Similar protests had broken out in 2024, forcing the government to grant some of the protesters’ demands. However, alliance leaders said that most of the promises were not kept.
Muslim-majority Kashmir is a disputed Himalayan territory claimed in full by both Pakistan and India. It has been divided between the two since their independence from British rule.
DISCOVERIES
All Arms on Deck
Octopi may have eight arms, but this does not mean they use them interchangeably.
In a new study on how octopi use their arms, researchers said the creatures – like primates, rodents, and fish – have specific arms for specific tasks.
They came to this conclusion after analyzing 25 one-minute video clips of 25 wild octopi spanning three species engaging in different activities. The clips were filmed between 2007 and 2015 at six different sites in the Atlantic, the Caribbean, and Spain, all representing different habitats. The team gathered almost 4,000 separate arm actions, Smithsonian Magazine explained.
For each clip, scientists and researchers classified the behavior of the octopi, such as fetching an object or walking. Then, they classified the arm actions involved, such as curling the limb or reaching it away from the body, the Guardian wrote.
They came up with four basic ways an octopus’ arms can perform – shortening, elongating, bending, and twisting – and observed which of those ways was involved in each specific action. They also identified 12 arm actions, such as grasping, curling, tucking, and reaching.
By combining the actions and arm movements, researchers found that octopi could perform 15 different behaviors, including exploring rocks, searching the ground, walking, swimming, and descending upon an object in a “parachute attack,” with arms outstretched and webbing extended.
Some movements, like crawling or a parachute attack, required more arm actions than others, like backward swimming.
The results showed that multiple arm actions could take place simultaneously on the same or adjacent arms. Moreover, all eight arms could perform all actions and movements.
“This means that octopuses can be very flexible and adaptable in many different environments and tasks,” said Buresch.
The animals did not show favoritism between right and left arms, but they did demonstrate a preference for using their front arms overall.
“In general, we did see that for most actions the octopuses used their front arms more often than their back arms,” study author Kendra Buresch told the Guardian. However, there were exceptions.
For example, they used rear arms for locomotion, to sit upright or roll along the ocean floor. Meanwhile, front arms were more often used for exploring.
These findings could help advance the work of ethologists, sensory ecologists, neuroscientists, and engineers working on soft robotic appendages, the team wrote. The research was partially funded by the US Office of Naval Research, which wants to develop more flexible robotic arms. Those robots could help deliver necessities to people in emergencies.
“How do you deliver a drug or a phone or water to someone who’s down there (in a collapsed building),” study author Roger Hanlon said in a statement. “You need some snaky little arm with high flexibility that can not only get down there, but can do something useful when it arrives.”