TIRANA, Albania- For more than three decades, Anila Bisha built a reputation playing complex women on stage and screen. But nothing in her career prepared her for watching herself deliver a parliamentary speech she never performed — as an artificial intelligence “minister”.
Last September, Prime Minister Edi Rama announced what he described as the world’s first AI-generated government minister, tasked with preventing corruption in public procurement.
Within days, the digital official appeared in a video address to parliament.
“I am not here to replace people, but to help them,” the AI said — wearing traditional Albanian dress, using Bisha’s face and voice.
Bisha says she learned about the appointment the same way everyone else did.
“I couldn’t believe it,” she told AFP. “I saw myself speaking in parliament, saying I was a minister. I was in shock. I cried so much.”
From E-Services Tool to ‘Minister’
Bisha’s involvement with the project began innocently. In early 2025, she agreed to lend her image and voice to a virtual assistant for Albania’s online government services portal, designed to help citizens navigate bureaucracy.
The work was intensive. She stood for hours recording speech, facial movements and expressions so the chatbot — named Diella (“Sun”) — could respond naturally.
The platform proved popular. Within months, Diella had logged nearly a million interactions and issued more than 36,000 documents.
“I received so many congratulations,” Bisha said. “It felt like a success.”
Then came the promotion she never agreed to.
Politics Without Consent
In September, Rama announced that Diella would become minister of public procurement, claiming the AI would make tenders “100 percent corruption-free”.
The move drew criticism from opposition politicians and legal experts, who questioned accountability and constitutionality in a country where corruption remains a major issue.
For Bisha, the problem was more personal.
“The use of my image and voice for political purposes is extremely serious,” she said, noting that her contract covered only the e-services platform and expired in December.
Repeated attempts to contact the government, she says, went unanswered.
Meanwhile, Rama continued to promote Diella internationally — at one point joking that the AI minister was “pregnant” and would give birth to 83 “children”, one for each government MP.
“I was disgusted,” Bisha said. “People who don’t like the prime minister started hating me. It hurt deeply.”
Legal Battle Begins
Earlier this month, Bisha launched legal proceedings to reclaim control of her identity. A bid to suspend the use of her image was rejected by an administrative court on Monday, but her lawyer says a full lawsuit is imminent.
The case will seek €1 million (about $1.17 million) in damages for alleged violations of image and personality rights.
A government spokeswoman dismissed the case as “nonsense”, saying authorities welcomed the chance to resolve the matter in court.
Bisha says she is prepared to take the fight beyond Albania, potentially to the European Court of Human Rights.
A Broader AI Warning
The controversy comes as Albania pushes digital reforms to meet European Union accession requirements — even as corruption scandals continue to dog senior officials.
Bisha’s case highlights a wider question confronting governments worldwide: who owns a digital identity when AI can replicate a human face and voice with unsettling precision?
“I don’t know what could happen with my voice and my figure,” she said. “What else could be done?”
She still believes AI cannot replace the emotional depth of human performance. But the experience has left her unsettled.
“I don’t know,” she said quietly. “Its development is coming — and it’s getting scary.”
