US first lady Melania Trump urges 'watchful guidance' of AI for children

The United States’ first lady, Melania Trump, is championing safe artificial intelligence (AI for children) and has inaugurated a task force on AI and childhood education.

On Thursday evening, the tech elite, including OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman and Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg, attended a White House meeting with President Donald Trump. 

The day was to promote the President’s AI initiative but the first lady led the setup of a task force on AI and childhood education, saying “the robots are here”.

The president's executive order was signed in April to promote AI literacy and proficiency among American youth.

These are all the things that the first lady said. 

“It’s a beautiful event today,” she said, beginning the meeting. “We are living in a world of wonder”.

She then pointed to the perils of AI, such as the technology taking away recent graduate jobs and it being hazardous to mental health. The same day as the event the Federal Trade Commission said it was investigating OpenAI and other AI companies for the impact their chatbots have on children’s mental health.

“We must manage AI’s growth responsibly,” she said, adding that “during this primitive stage” it should be subject to “watchful guidance.”

But she was not all doom and gloom about AI, she said it was also the “greatest engine of progress in the history of the United States of America”.

The tech titans reacted favourably to her speech. 

“It’s a real honour for me to be here,” said Google’s Pichai. “You’re really inspiring young people to use technology in extraordinary ways,” he added. 

'Torch of innovation'

The first lady has recently turned her attention to AI. 

In August, she launched a government-sponsored nationwide contest that is designed to encourage five to six-year-olds to work together to use artificial intelligence tools to solve community issues.

“As someone who created an AI-powered audiobook and championed online safety through the Take It Down Act, I've seen firsthand the promise of this powerful technology,” the first lady said in a short video announcing the Presidential AI Challenge. 

“Now, I pass the torch of innovation to you”.

The first lady lobbied Congress to pass legislation imposing penalties for online sexual exploitation using imagery that is real or an AI-generated deepfake. President Trump signed the Take It Down Act into law in May and had the first lady sign it, too.

The competitions for the AI contest will be held in the spring, followed by a White House event with the national winners, the White House have said.