Melania Trump reemerges to highlight responsible AI: ‘The robots are here’

U.S. first lady Melania Trump attends a meeting of the White House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence Education in the East Room of the White House on September 4. (Brian Snyder/Reuters via CNN Newsource)

U.S. first lady Melania Trump made rare public remarks on Thursday, calling on private and public sector leaders to prepare children for the growth of artificial intelligence, at a Thursday event at the White House.

“The robots are here. Our future is no longer science fiction,” Trump said as she hosted a meeting of the White House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence Education in the East Room, which marked her first public appearance since July 13.

“As leaders and parents, we must manage AI’s growth responsibly. During this primitive stage, it is our duty to treat AI as we would our own children: empowering, but with watchful guidance,” she said, calling on the leaders to prioritize infrastructure and energy, national security and talent as the technology expands.

The first lady’s presence at the meeting served as a renewed effort toward her first-term “Be Best” platform, which included a focus on online safety for children. Since her husband’s return to the White House, Trump has yet to substantively lay out new policy goals for “Be Best,” but on Thursday she signaled her interest in expanding it to include responsible stewardship of artificial intelligence.

She has highlighted both the opportunities and perils of the emerging technology, recently promoting a presidential AI competition for school-age children. Earlier this year, she led an effort toward passing the “Take It Down Act,” legislation aimed at protecting Americans from deepfake and revenge pornography.

“As someone who created an AI-powered audio book and championed online safety through the Take It Down Act, I’ve seen firsthand the promise of this powerful technology,” she said in a video introducing the challenge.

Thursday’s event marked the first lady’s eighth appearance at an official event at the White House during President Donald Trump’s second term, underscoring her relative absence from Washington, DC, and selective use of her massive platform as an American first lady.

She’s been seen in public 20 of the days since the president returned to office — less than half of the 46 days she was at this same point in his first term, when she’d attended multiple Oval Office meetings and news conferences with world leaders and made trips to seven countries.

But Melania Trump is in frequent communication with her husband, often in texts or calls exchanged throughout the day, according to sources familiar with the matter.

On Thursday, she addressed emerging technology alongside a cadre of Cabinet members and CEOs.

“We are living in a moment of wonder,” she said, “And it is our responsibility to prepare the children of America.”

By Betsy Klein, CNN