The Albanian government presented the initiative a day ago to implement Digital Identity for Albanian citizens.
British media has revealed that the institute of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is behind this initiative.
This article highlights that such an initiative is being attempted to be approved in Great Britain by Tony Blair.
“The Albanian parliament erupted in anger as Tony Blair ally Edi Rama installed an ‘AI chatbot’ as a government minister. Last year, the Albanian prime minister said he owed his post to the former British prime minister as the two discussed plans for digital identity.
Albania ‘elected’ its first digital minister in early September, but the story has become relevant again following our government’s digital identity proposal. With Tony Blair pushing for Digital Identity in both the UK and Albania, Albania’s ‘chatbot’ minister raises interesting questions about our direction under Labour,” the article reads.
“The Prime Minister of Albania is Edi Rama, who is currently serving his fourth term. Sky News describes him as a socialist, but unlike the UK socialists, Mr Rama is a huge fan of Tony Blair. While Rama leads the Socialist Party of Albania, he is inspired by Blair’s ‘third way’ politics. In other words – like Blair himself – he has led a traditionally left-wing party in a decidedly centrist direction.
A year ago, Rama and Blair sat down for a discussion about how technology has allowed Albania to “rethink” the Albanian state:
Along with Digital Identity, artificial intelligence is a key interest of the Tony Blair Institute (TBI). We know that Blair and the TBI are pushing for Digital Identity in the UK; will they also encourage the use of AI by ministers?”, the British media points out.
GB News has highlighted the links between Tony Blair, Digital Identity and an AI politician.
Full GB News article :
The Albanian parliament erupted in anger as Tony Blair ally Edi Rama installed an 'AI chatbot' as a government minister. Last year, the Albanian prime minister said he owed his post to the former British prime minister as the two discussed plans for digital identity.
Albania 'elected' its first digital minister in early September, but the story has become relevant again following our government's digital identity proposal. With Tony Blair pushing for Digital Identity in both the UK and Albania, Albania's ministerial 'chatbot' raises interesting questions about our direction under Labour.
Political Digitalization and Digital Identity
'Diella' is the Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence in Albania. Diella herself is an artificial intelligence, specifically of the generative kind. As Sky News reported at the time:
The avatar, who appeared as a woman wearing traditional Albanian clothing, told MPs: “I am not here to replace people but to help them.
"True, I have no citizenship, but I also have no ambitions or personal interests."
While there appears to be no evidence that generative AIs have “personal ambition” in the sense that a human being does, studies have shown that these AIs will commit blackmail and even murder in test situations in which they are presented with evidence that they will be shut down before they can complete a task.
While this may not be “personal ambition” in the same sense as a corrupt politician, it is certainly concerning that Western governments are allowing corporations to pull this off when the potential risks are so great and poorly understood.
As GB News shows in the video above, there was something of an 'explosion' in the Albanian parliament when there was a vote to introduce Diella. Despite the opposition, the vote passed with 82 out of 140 politicians voting in favour.
The Prime Minister of Albania is Edi Rama, who is currently serving his fourth term. Sky News describes him as a socialist, but unlike the UK's socialists, Mr. Rama is a huge fan of Tony Blair.
While Rama leads the Socialist Party of Albania, he is inspired by Blair's 'third way' politics. In other words, like Blair himself, he has led a traditionally left-wing party in a distinctly centrist direction.
In the video below from a year ago, Rama and Blair sit down for a discussion about how technology has allowed Albania to "rethink" the Albanian state:
Along with Digital Identity, artificial intelligence is a key interest of the Tony Blair Institute (TBI). We know that Blair and the TBI are pushing for Digital Identity in the UK; will they also encourage ministers to use AI?/ GB News