AI ‘Candidate’ Proposed for Albania Mayoral Election

TirANA, the ‘candidate’ created by AI. Photo: Denisa Kele, Tomi Kallanxhi, Besmir Semanaj/Facebook. Three Albanian IT experts say they are putting forward an artificial intelligence ‘candidate’ for the upcoming mayoral elections in the capital, called TirANA (Tirana Algorithmic Neural Assistant) – although it’s not yet clear if the electoral authorities will accept it. Their initiative comes after Prime Minister Edi Rama appointed an AI-generated ‘minister’ named Diella to his cabinet – a digital assistant that formerly provided online services to the public through the state-run e-Albania portal. “Behind this project [for the AI mayoral candidate] stands a large team of experts from various fields – technology, urban planning, environment, transport, the economy, justice and the public services – who believe that the city of Tirana needs a new approach, based on transparency, efficiency and accountability,” IT experts Denisa Kele, Tomi Kallanxhi and Besmir Semanaj wrote in a Facebook post. They claimed that the initiative, first made public last week, was not just an attempt to satirise Rama’s AI ‘minister’. “Our goal is not just to make a comparison with Diella, even though the comparison arises naturally. We are testing the legal boundaries to see whether it is possible for such an entity to register with the Central Election Commission (CEC),” Semanaj, one of the creators of TirANA, told BIRN. When asked by BIRN about the AI-created ‘candidate’, the CEC told BIRN that any matter related to the registration of electoral subjects or candidates is examined only when an official request or application is submitted, in accordance with the procedures and deadlines set by the electoral code. The CEC added that it cannot comment on hypothetical or media-reported situations. “However, legally, the right to register as a candidate in elections belongs only to Albanian citizens who meet the criteria set out in the constitution and the electoral code,” the CEC said. The date of the election in Tirana remains unclear after a legal challenge by the ousted former mayor, Erion Veliaj, who is in custody awaiting trial on corruption charges. The Constitutional Court is due to rule on the issue on October 31. Comparing the IT experts’ virtual creation to the government’s ‘minister’, Semanaj insisted that, unlike Diella, TirANA’s digital ‘candidate’ adheres to transparent standards for the public, where “every citizen has the opportunity to see the code, monitor the data sources, and verify its functionality”. “This is the example we’re giving of what Diella should have been, unlike what exists today, where the code is unknown, the sources are not transparent, and the process is closed,” he said. Prime Minister Rama made headlines around the world when he announced that he was entrusting a ministerial portfolio to AI-generated digital assistant Diella, which he said would be responsible for public procurement – a sector widely regarded as a breeding ground for corruption. Rama claims it will reduce graft, nepotism and conflicts of interest in public procurement processes. The decision was criticised as lacking any legal basis, but Albania’s president included the artificial minister in his decree appointing Rama as prime minister, which also assigned Rama “the responsibility for the establishment and operation of the virtual minister”. The opposition was furious when the ‘minister’ Diella made a ‘speech’ to parliament last month, arguing that the AI entity was a smokescreen intended to hide poor governance by Rama, who was returned to power for a historic fourth term in May’s general elections.