What happened

In September 2025, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama introduced "Diella", a virtual AI minister designed to oversee government contracts and combat corruption, positioning it as a symbolic member of the cabinet. 

However, the avatar used the face and voice of Anila Bisha, a well-known film and theater actress. 

While Bisha had previously consented to her likeness being used for a digital assistant on the e-Albania public services portal, she claims she never authorised its use for a political or ministerial persona. 

Why it happened

The incident is rooted in scope creep and a lack of granular consent protocols, with the government appearing to have interpreted a narrow contract for a service-oriented chatbot as a broad license for any state-related AI application.

Bisha was not consulted or offered a new agreement when the "assistant" was elevated to a cabinet-level role.

The project was managed by the National Agency for the Information Society (AKSHI), whose leadership was coincidentally under investigation for corruption at the time, highlighting a lack of ethical oversight and clear policy guardrails regarding the use of biometric data.

The government has publicly dismissed the lawsuit as unfounded, indicating limited willingness to acknowledge responsibility, and leaving it to the courts to clarify how far state institutions can go in reusing individuals’ likenesses in AI systems.