Melania Trump has shifted her focus from her “Be Best” anti-bullying campaign to the nation’s best bots for tots. The first lady welcomed top US tech leaders to the East Wing of the White House to launch a taskforce on artificial intelligence and schools as part of the “Presidential AI Challenge.” The event focused on integrating AI into childhood education.
Joining Trump at a table set in front of gold candelabras and American flags were department heads, including education secretary Linda McMahon, Michael Kratsios, director of the office of science and technology policy, and David Sacks, the venture capitalist serving as the White House’s cryptocurrency and AI adviser. Tech CEOs seated with her included Google’s Sundar Pichai and IBM’s Arvind Krishna. OpenAI’s Sam Altman was also present but did not make any comments.
Trump kicked off the meeting, saying, “It’s a beautiful event today. We are living in a world of wonder.” The meeting was part of an all-day slate of events to promote Donald Trump’s AI initiative. The initiative states that the US is in a “race to achieve global dominance in artificial intelligence” and “under President Trump, our nation will win.”
McMahon, however, said one of the Department of Education’s goals was to integrate AI into school curriculums across the country. “It’s not one of those things to be afraid of. Let’s embrace it,” she said.
Several tech-industry watchdogs criticized Melania Trump’s White House event, saying it was dangerous to promote a technology that had pushed youths to kill themselves and engage in disordered eating and other forms of risky behavior and self-harm. The CEOs also spoke, thanking the first lady for her work to bring artificial intelligence to children nationwide.
Pichai from Google said that Google is actively working to set up systems to make AI more accessible in schools. IBM’s Krishna said IBM was pledging to teach AI skills to 2 million workers in the US. The White House said it had received more than 135 pledges from companies to support AI education in the US. Those include Microsoft, Amazon, and other tech companies.
The day was scheduled to culminate with a dinner in the White House’s revamped Rose Garden, where Silicon Valley’s top luminaries were expected to be in attendance. The watchdog group Demand Progress contended that the event showed how much power the tech industry now has in Washington DC.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/04/melania-trump-artificial-intelligence-schools
