{"id":280925,"date":"2026-02-12T19:16:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T19:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/280925\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T19:16:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T19:16:13","slug":"actor-demands-removal-of-her-face-and-voice-from-use-as-albanias-ai-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/280925\/","title":{"rendered":"Actor demands removal of her face and voice from use as Albania’s AI minister"},"content":{"rendered":"

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) \u2014 Albania introduced what it called the world\u2019s first artificial intelligence minister<\/a> last year. Turns out she wasn\u2019t entirely artificial \u2014 at least not her face and voice. Albanian actor Anila Bisha says those belong to her \u2014 and she never imagined the government would use her image so prominently.<\/p>\n

Now Bisha, a popular film and theater actor in Albania, is demanding her face and voice be stripped from the so-called virtual minister named Diella. <\/p>\n

Citing a violation of her personal data, Bisha filed a formal request through an administrative court in Albania this week demanding the government immediately stop using her voice and image for Diella. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first legal move to prevent the abuse of Anila\u2019s image,\u201d her lawyer Aranit Roshi said. <\/p>\n

The Albanian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Albania drew global attention last year when Prime Minister Edi Rama announced the creation of what he described as the world\u2019s first artificial intelligence minister, aimed at ensuring that all public procurement tenders are handled 100% corruption-free.<\/p>\n

Diella is usually depicted in traditional Albanian national dress and is known for her punchy comebacks when prompted by government officials.<\/p>\n

Bisha acknowledged she had signed a contract agreeing that her voice and image can be used for the government\u2019s online platform e-Albania, which provides a wide range of public services in the country. But she said she was never told of any plans to use them for an AI minister.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was surprising when I heard the prime minister declare it. I asked how this could happen without my knowledge, without anyone asking me if I wanted my image to be used or not,\u201d Bisha told The Associated Press on Thursday.<\/p>\n

She said she feels her image is now used as a political statement.<\/p>\n

It is not the first time that voices used in artificial intelligence platforms have caused a stir.<\/p>\n

In 2024, OpenAI pulled one of its ChatGPT voices, Sky, after actor Scarlett Johansson said the voice<\/a> sounded \u201ceerily similar\u201d to her own. OpenAI said the voice used for Sky was not that of Johansson.<\/p>\n

Bisha said she had tried to contact the government multiple times since the AI minister became part of the Albanian Cabinet<\/a> last September. She said she decided to begin legal proceedings after failing to receive a response requesting a meeting to discuss the issue.<\/p>\n

Bisha filed the temporary injunction with the administrative court demanding the government immediately cease using her image for Diella. Her representatives plan to file a formal lawsuit for damages and compensation.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne cannot take away one\u2019s identity and do with it whatever they want,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) \u2014 Albania introduced what it called the world\u2019s first artificial intelligence minister last year. Turns…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280926,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[365,18641,157260,363,364,10632,157261,3717,111,139,69,135,12656,142518,145,255],"class_list":{"0":"post-280925","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-albania","10":"tag-anila-bisha","11":"tag-artificial-intelligence","12":"tag-artificialintelligence","13":"tag-courts","14":"tag-edi-rama","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-new-zealand","17":"tag-newzealand","18":"tag-nz","19":"tag-politics","20":"tag-scarlett-johansson","21":"tag-send-to-apple-news","22":"tag-technology","23":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}