Albania turns to AI to combat corruption and accelerate EU membership

Albania is exploring the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to fight corruption, improve government transparency, and speed up its integration with the European Union.

Prime Minister Edi Rama has suggested AI could assist in electing officials, managing government tenders, and potentially running entire ministries, Caliber.Az reports, citing foreign media.

“One day, we might even have a ministry run entirely by AI. That way, there would be no nepotism or conflicts of interest,” Rama said in July. He also floated the idea of AI ministers, noting local developers could create models capable of holding office.

While no formal steps have been taken, AI is already used in public procurement, tax and customs monitoring, and environmental oversight, including drones and satellite systems to detect illegal construction and cannabis plantations. Plans are also underway to apply AI to traffic enforcement and road safety, facial recognition fines, healthcare, education, and digital citizen identification.

Opposition figures caution that AI alone cannot solve systemic corruption. Jorida Tabaku of the Democratic Party said the technology must be transparent and implemented alongside broader governance reforms, warning that corrupt actors programming AI could simply replicate existing dysfunction.

AI is also playing a role in Albania’s EU accession process. Following the opening of formal negotiations in 2022, the country is aligning national laws with the EU acquis, a task AI is helping accelerate by translating and comparing hundreds of thousands of pages of legislation.

Rama is collaborating with Mira Murati, former CTO of OpenAI, to assist the process, aiming to complete alignment by 2027—five years faster than Croatia’s integration. Experts note that while AI can handle translation and analysis, political oversight remains essential.

Albania has also embraced AI in citizen services. Through the e-Albania portal, users can manage tax documents, birth certificates, and licenses digitally, with the system handling 49 million transactions over five years and saving citizens and the diaspora more than €600 million. AI has also been used for public engagement, including generating child-like avatars of European leaders during the 2025 European Political Community summit.

Despite progress, experts note that Albania lacks the full infrastructure, expertise, and resources for a complete AI-driven governance model. Gerond Taçi, a local AI specialist, stressed that the rollout will require careful planning, legal adjustments, and disaster recovery measures, but added that adaptation is inevitable.

By Tamilla Hasanova