It has been one year since the world’s first ‘AI Minister’ was appointed. In that time, the minister has awarded zero contracts.
In September 2025, the Albanian government, pledging to end corruption in public procurement, gave the AI avatar ‘Diella’ the title of Minister of Procurement. International media reported it en masse, and domestic outlets ran stories like “AI reviews bids instead of civil servants.” However, a Balkan investigative outlet verified this August: the Public Procurement Agency has just completed a draft RFP to select a vendor to build an AI procurement system. In other words, the AI minister is not yet evaluating bids; it is waiting for a bid to create itself.