Albanian actor sues government for using her image as “AI minister”

By Fatos Bytyci and Florion Goga

TIRANA, Feb 13 (Reuters) – An Albanian actor is suing the government for using her face and voice to create the avatar for an “AI minister” – a virtual member of the cabinet.

When Edi Rama began his fourth term as Albania’s prime minister last September, he also unveiled an AI-generated virtual minister, “Diella” – sun in Albanian –  to oversee the awarding of government contracts as a step to fight corruption.

Diella features the face and voice of Anila Bisha, a film and theatre actor who says she never gave consent for her likeness to be used that way, and it has led to harassment online and unwanted attention in the street.

“First I was surprised, smiled and I said it must be a joke,” Bisha told Reuters. “Now people call me Diella and they consider me as just another minister of the government.”

She says she allowed her likeness to be used last year to create an AI-powered virtual assistant for a government website to help citizens and businesses get state documents, but not as a virtual politician on the prime minister’s team.

“People who don’t like the prime minister, now they also hate me.”

The government denies using her likeness improperly. The “lawsuit is nonsense, but we welcome the opportunity to solve it once and for all in a court of law,” the government’s press office said in response to questions from Reuters.

The Albanian government’s public image has been battered since December after a special prosecution unit indicted Rama’s deputy, Belinda Balluku, for meddling in tenders for infrastructure projects, which she denies.

Diella’s image appears in the first row of the cabinet list on the government’s website, next to photos of Rama and Balluku. 

A court is expected to rule on Monday whether to order the government to stop using her image. Her lawyer, Aranit Roshi, said Bisha is seeking 1 million euros in damages.

“The law says that in cases of personal data violation, penalties for state institutions are up to 21 million euros so our request for 1 million is a reasonable amount,” he said.

(Reporting by Fatos Bytyci and Florion GogaEditing by Peter Graff)