At a press conference at the White Residence on Wednesday, First Girl Melania Trump confirmed up with a humanoid robot developed by robotics company Figure AI. The duo waltzed down a crimson carpet together sooner than the bot gave a handy guide a rough speech, chirping: “I am grateful to be allotment of this historical movement to empower teens with abilities and education.”
Not long after these remarks, the machine mosied out of the room and disappeared.
The extraordinary spectacle used to be allotment of the main lady’s newly launched initiative, the Fostering the Future Collectively world summit, which invited global leaders from all the way in which thru the world to focus on learn how to empower teens thru academic abilities, at the side of AI.
The occasion with out complications evoked dystopian visions of the long bustle — ones in which the fashioned-or-backyard (human) faculty teacher has been replaced by a Terminator-formed server stack that would possibly perchance whisk and focus on Latin. Indeed, all the way in which thru her remarks, the main lady asked attendees to contemplate a future in which a humanoid robot would act because the last educator for the world’s teens. (The occasion took home at the same time the Trump administration introduced a separate tech council staffed by jet-surroundings Silicon Valley executives.)
“Factor in a humanoid educator named Plato,” the first lady mentioned. “Obtain admission to to the classical reports is now instantaneous — literature, science, artwork, philosophy, mathematics, and history — Humanity’s entire corpus of data is straight within the market within the comfort of your home. Plato will provide a personalised abilities, adaptive to the wants of every pupil. Plato is repeatedly patient, and repeatedly readily within the market. Predictably, our kids will originate deeper excessive pondering and self enough reasoning abilities.”
“Honored to be invited to the White Residence by the First Girl Melania Trump,” the Figure AI X memoir posted on Wednesday.
The first lady’s feedback are obviously forward-taking a sight and don’t replicate where robotics and edtech are this day, or will be anytime quickly. Unruffled, the pondering that AI and abilities is also mature to automate finding out (and, in plenty of the way, change human educators) has been gaining in reputation within the tech commerce. Such solutions were many occasions promoted by the White Residence.
Techcrunch occasion
San Francisco, CA
|
October 13-15, 2026
Over the previous year, academic experiments fancy the Alpha Faculty, a community of non-public colleges that use AI to educate teens at a expeditiously streak, salvage won traction and media consideration.
The Trump administration has embraced experiments fancy these, whereas concurrently attacking the mature public education draw.
Secretary of Education Linda E. McMahon, who is within the midst of abolishing the very company she is tasked with working, has moreover stumbled on the time to talk over with an Alpha Faculty campus, where she currently praised the “replacement” promised by the educational chain.
“Alpha Faculty is reimagining K–12 education by equipping college students with supreme AI talents and preparing them for a with out be conscious evolving abilities-driven workers,” the administration currently mentioned of McMahon’s focus on over with.
Melania Trump’s occasion Wednesday equally highlighted the role that the administration feels the tech commerce must play within the attain forward for American education — with Trump recognizing the “participation of main American abilities firms, whose engagement reflects the growing role of the non-public sector in supporting safe and effective academic innovation.”
Lucas is a senior creator at TechCrunch, where he covers artificial intelligence, user tech, and startups. He beforehand covered AI and cybersecurity at Gizmodo.
You would possibly perchance also contact Lucas by emailing lucas.ropek@techcrunch.com.
