Actor behind Albania's AI 'minister' wants her face back

TIRANA, Albania (AFP) — An actor whose face was used by Albania’s government for an AI chatbot that it promoted to be a “minister” told AFP on Wednesday that she had launched a legal fight to stop the use of her image and accused the government of “exploitation.”

Prime Minister Edi Rama announced in September that an AI system, dubbed Diella, would oversee a new public tenders portfolio as a “minister” he pledged would cut corruption.

The move drew criticism from the opposition and experts who questioned the system’s accountability and transparency.

Well-known Albanian actor Anila Bisha, whose face and voice were used to create Diella’s avatar, said she had not approved her identity for use in that way.

Bisha said she filed a petition with the administrative court earlier this week requesting the suspension of the use of her image.

“It’s an exploitation of my identity and my personal data,” the 57-year-old actress told AFP.

According to Bisha, she had originally signed a contract authorizing the use of her image until the end of 2025 to represent a virtual assistant on an online government services portal.

But after Rama’s government announced that Diella would become a minister, a video featuring a computer-generated version of her addressed Parliament.

In the video, purportedly made with AI, the “minister” appeared as a woman dressed in a traditional Albanian outfit and said it was “not here to replace people.”

Bisha also discovered that the National Agency for Information Society, which developed the AI, filed a patent on her image and voice without informing her — a move that she says affected her ability to work.

Despite reaching out to authorities in the hope of negotiating a solution, she received no reply and decided to take legal action.

Diella, which means “sun” in Albanian, is responsible for all decisions relating to public procurement tenders – in a move that Rama promised would make the process “corruption-free”.