埃里昂·维拉伊，阿尔巴尼亚首都提拉那的市长，通过一份人工智能生成的自己形象，与选民们交流，承诺提供免费的学校午餐。该视频发布在他的官方Instagram账户上，并明确标注为人工智能生成的内容。
Erion Veliaj, the mayor of Albania’s capital, Tirana, has spoken to voters through an AI copy of himself, promising free school meals. The video was posted on his official Instagram account and is indeed labelled as AI-generated content.
这个问题的关键不在于一位市长使用人工智能生成的内容，而在于他目前被监禁，正在候审之中。
The main problem is not AI-generated content from a mayor, but the fact that he is in jail, held in custody awaiting trial.
在为时四分钟的视频中，数字化的维拉伊坐在阿尔巴尼亚和提拉那的国旗前，首先感谢居民在开学季节的问候，并解释为什么他不能亲自到场。
In the four-minute video, a digital Veliaj sits in front of the flags of Albania and of Tirana, opening with a thank-you to residents at the start of the school year and an explanation of why he is not there in person.
“我的人质劫持已经持续了20个月，除了通过人工智能，我无法表达这份问候，”这位AI版的维拉伊说道。
“For 20 months my hostage-taking has continued, and I cannot send this greeting except through artificial intelligence,” the AI-major says.
视频的大部分内容是回顾他的政绩，他提到了2015年发现的破旧幼儿园、2019年地震中受损的学校，以及此后新建的学校和幼儿园。
Most of the video is a tour of his record, as he recalls run-down nurseries he found in 2015, schools damaged in the 2019 earthquake, and the new schools and nurseries built since.
这位数字人说道，他的目标是希望一所优质的学校能够向每一个孩子敞开大门，无论家庭收入如何。视频的后半部分转向了他此前承诺的免费学校午餐问题。
The goal, the avatar says, was that a good school should be open to every child in every neighbourhood, regardless of what the family earns. Towards the end, it turns to free school lunches, which he had promised before.
“他们确实埋伏了我并把我关了起来，但我会兑现这个承诺，”他说道。
“It is true that they ambushed me and locked me up, but I will keep this promise,” he says.
“无论他们多么想把我远离这个城市和你们，提拉那是我生命中的荣耀，”视频继续说道，“为了报答这份荣耀，即使被关在他们锁起来的牢房里，我也会继续工作。”这段视频在阿尔巴尼亚引发了强烈的批评，地方媒体也将其与巴基斯坦前总理伊姆兰·汗从监狱中使用人工智能生成的演讲来支持追随者的做法进行了类比。
“However much they want to keep me away from the city, and from you, Tirana is the honour of my life,” it continues. “To repay that honour, I will keep working even from the cell where they have locked me up.”The video drew backlash in Albania, as local media also likened it to the AI-generated speeches that Imran Khan, Pakistan’s former prime minister, used to reach supporters from prison.
维拉伊于2025年2月被逮捕，阿尔巴尼亚的反腐特殊检察组SPAK的检察官们指控他和他的妻子参与了一项涉及约100万欧元贿赂和城市基金的丑闻。这些指控包括腐败、洗钱和隐藏资产，所有指控均被他们否认。
Erion Veliaj was arrested in February 2025, and Prosecutors at SPAK, Albania’s special anti-corruption office, accuse him and his wife of a scheme that took about €1 million in bribes and city funds. The charges include corruption, money laundering, and hiding assets, all of which they denied.
今年2月，法院将此案提交审理，9月时，阿尔巴尼亚高院裁定他在案件审理过程中必须继续被拘留。
A court sent the case to trial in February this year, and in September, Albania’s High Court ruled that he must remain in custody while the case proceeds.
尽管如此，维拉伊仍然担任官方市长，尽管2025年时里拉议会投票决定撤去他的职务，并呼吁举行新投票。但是11月份，宪法院裁定撤职违反宪法，投票随即被取消。
Even so, Veliaj remains the official mayor, even though Tirana’s council voted to remove him in 2025 and a new vote was called. But in November, the Constitutional Court ruled that the dismissal broke the constitution, and the vote was called off.
阿尔巴尼亚希望加入欧盟，但尚未成为成员国，因此自8月生效的欧盟人工智能标签规定并不适用于该国。
Albania hopes to join the EU but is not yet a member, and as a result, the bloc’s AI labelling rules, in force since August, do not apply there.