NYT: Albania’s anti-corruption AI developers face graft charges

The creators of Diella, Albania’s AI-powered “government minister” designed to combat corruption, have themselves been accused of corruption, raising fresh questions about the country’s efforts to clean up public administration.

Last month, prosecutors from a special investigation unit placed the director and deputy director of the National Information Agency under house arrest. The officials are linked to a criminal organisation accused of manipulating public contract applications through intimidation—a striking irony given that their agency developed Diella to detect and prevent graft, The New York Times reveals. 

Diella, billed as the world’s first AI government minister, has been positioned as a centerpiece of Prime Minister Edi Rama’s anti-corruption push as Albania works toward European Union membership. The AI avatar operates within the agency, which manages the government’s digital infrastructure and oversees multiple online public systems.

A November report from EU officials acknowledged some progress in the fight against corruption but noted that it remained “widespread across vulnerable sectors,” including areas overseen by the very agency that created Diella.

The arrests have also sparked concerns about whether an AI designed to fight corruption can be compromised if fed unreliable data or manipulated by those in charge, potentially undermining its ability to detect wrongdoing.

By Sabina Mammadli