Alexiei Dingli

Alexiei Dingli (born 29 December 1979) is a Maltese artificial intelligence researcher who is professor of artificial intelligence at the University of Malta. As a member of the Nationalist Party (PN), he was the mayor of Valletta, the capital of Malta, between 2008 and 2019.

Early life and education Dingli grew up in Valletta. He graduated with a first-class Bachelor of Science degree in IT and obtained a Doctor of Philosophy in computer science from the University of Sheffield. He also earned a Master of Business Administration degree with specialisation in technology management from the Grenoble School of Management. He was elected to the city council in 2005 with the second highest number of votes. Eleven months later, the bid was successful.

On 9 January 2019, Dingli resigned as mayor. Later that month, he told journalist and Valletta author Ramona Depares that despite his support of business, residents were being affected by restaurants bringing noise to residential areas, too many hotels were opening at once, and landlords were allegedly causing problems in order to make tenants move out.

Post-political career In January 2024, Dingli went on the Maltese version of Shark Tank to search for investors for Digital Traffic Brain, an AI-driven traffic management system that seeks to ease Malta's congestion problem. He requested €1 million for 40% in the company, but struck a deal with energy businessman Mark Bajada for €1.3 million in exchange for 50% of the company. Later that month, Dingli was named on the board at HSBC Bank Malta.

In October 2025, Maltese public television channel TVM broadcast the series Artificial Intelligence in Our Lives, the country's first series to have an AI presenter. The presenter was based on Dingli's appearance and mannerisms, but its voice was based on real recordings and not a synthetic replication, as AI has little exposure to the Maltese language. Dingli said that AI presenters would outperform humans, a position challenged by former Public Broadcasting Services newsreader Keith Demicoli.