This was #6
Melania Trump hosts tech leaders at AI education roundtable
First lady Melania Trump hosted several top technology leaders at the White House on Thursday for a meeting of an artificial intelligence (AI) education task force, as she increasingly takes up the mantle of AI-related issues.
She was joined by Google CEO Sundar Pichai and IBM chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna, while OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was spotted in the audience.
“I predict AI will represent the single largest growth category in our nation during this administration — and I won’t be surprised if AI becomes known as the greatest engine of progress in the history of the United States of America,” the first lady said Thursday.
“But as leaders and parents, we must manage AI’s growth responsibly,” she added. “During this primitive stage, it is our duty to treat AI as we would our own children — empowering but with watchful guidance.”
The task force meeting follows her announcement last week of a presidential AI challenge, urging students across the country to “unleash their imagination and showcase the spirit of American innovation.”
- She also helped usher the Take It Down Act through Congress earlier this year.
- The bill criminalized the publication of non-consensual intimate images, including AI-generated deepfakes.
The reaction to Melania's task force meeting was mixed as some people
were excited to hear more about technology's future while others weren't
so certain.
"We’ve officially reached the Black Mirror season where the
First Lady briefs us on robots," wrote one person.
Instead, the First Lady's looks stole the show, and Karoline Leavitt predicted it. Earlier today, the press secretary wrote, "Melania is a model first lady. But Trump haters can't admit it," sharing an article to an op-ed.
In response, people referred to Melania's model past,
which saw her turn up the heat in some scantily-clad shots. "Yes she
modeled quite a bit, bared her soul for it in fact..." one person wrote.
The first lady gave her warning hours after the president posted what appeared to be an AI-generated video showing California
Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff with a 'pencil neck' - the nickname given
to him by Trump. Schiff has been a longtime rival of the president.
The
East Room audience was flooded with tech bigwigs, including OpenAI CEO
Sam Altman, who is in a well publicized feud with former Department of
Government Efficiency head Elon Musk.
Musk said on his X platform
that he had been invited to the gathering.
- 'I was invited, but unfortunately could not attend.
- A representative of mine will be there,' the SpaceX and Tesla head said.
Cabinet members
flanked the first lady, including Education Secretary Linda McMahon -
who credited 19-year-old Barron for piquing Melania's interest in tech -
prompting a big smile from the first lady.
