Melania Trump Urges Exploration of AI, but Not ‘to Surrender Your Thinking’ to It
Also mentioned in The Weekly Wrap: Rosalynn Carter, Laura Bush, Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton and Abigail Adams.
East Wing Magazine’s mission: We are an independent, journalistic-driven publication dedicated to objectively covering presidential first ladies present and past, regardless of political affiliation and their spouses’ domestic and foreign policies.
Why this story: First Lady Melania Trump since returning to the White House is actively shaping her causes and initiatives around technology innovation and safety. Mrs. Trump’s remarks express her vision of Artificial Intelligence for schoolchildren and educators. The first lady has also been involved in other technology and AI uses including the recording of her audiobook, ‘Melania’; digital collectible assets; and Trump cryptocurrency including a ‘Melania’ memecoin, which has been the focus of critics concerned about elected officials unethically gaining from such endeavors.
Why it matters: The sitting first lady’s causes and initiatives can have lasting impact on society and tracking her work contributes to the historic arc of America’s presidential spouses as figures in their own right.
First Lady Melania Trump urged school children to harness their imagination with Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, while cautioning not to let it replace their personal intelligence in remarks made from the White House to attendees of an AI webinar designed for educators and students on Thursday.
“Use AI to unlock new parts of your imagination. Lead with your ideas, stay sharp, but remember—never surrender your thinking to AI,” she told an audience during the live AI literacy event called Zoom Ahead: AI for Tomorrow’s Leaders hosted by Zoom and conducted over Zoom.
The first lady, after being introduced by Zoom Founder and CEO Eric Yuan, began her remarks muted. Mrs. Trump thanked her host for several seconds before audio was restored—a technology snafu common in the modern workplace.
She went on in her remarks telling children that “history reminds us that curiosity is the driving force behind every great achievement” and that the world’s greatest minds—writers, architects, scientists, and painters—all had endless interest about human nature, and they all questioned that which was yet to be answered.
Mrs. Trump, who has made it a goal to empower the next generation with AI and education, described how Artificial Intelligence is changing the world and that school-aged children’s curiosity should serve as a driving force. AI provides all the tools needed to implement creative vision—today, she said, noting how movie characters, scripts, fashion, music and art can be made with the emerging technology.
“But, what do you need to start? You need to harness your imagination. In the new AI era, the most powerful skill is knowing what to ask, why it matters, and how to think beyond the first answer,” she said. “I encourage you to be stubbornly curious, think outside the box, and question everything.”
The event builds on Mrs. Trump’s interest in supporting innovation and safety around online technology. In August, she announced the Presidential Artificial Intelligence Challenge with prize money to spur new projects from K-12 students and educators. At the time, she asserted that the challenge would be the “first step in preparing our next generation with a base understanding of this important technology.”
And last May, Mrs. Trump championed the Take It Down Act that was signed into law by the president. The legislation, enforced by the Federal Trade Commission, penalizes anyone who spreads nonconsensual, sexually explicit images of someone. It requires technology platforms to promptly remove the images once reported. The bipartisan bill introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, also targets AI-generated deepfake images.
The Zoom event comes on the heels of the Senate on Tuesday unanimously passing a bill allowing victims to sue creators on nonconsensual sexually explicit deepfake images for a minimum of $150,000. Called the Defiance Act, it is now headed to the House for consideration.
Momentum around the proposed bill is being fueled by reports that the chatbot Grok on the social media platform X owned by Elon Musk, a close associate of the Trump administration, allows the creation of explicit images that have prompted Grok to “undress” women and girls, including those of real people, reported The 19th. Earlier this month, it appeared that X moved the image-generation capabilities of Grok behind a paywall, also drawing criticism from technology experts and survivor advocates who say the company is now profiting off the use. On Wednesday, X announced it “implemented technological measures to prevent the Grok account from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis.”
The Weekly Wrap
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