Melania Trump honed as first lady

First lady Melania Trump made a rare public appearance at the White House on Thursday, telling the crowd that “robots are here” and that it’s our responsibility to prepare children in America for decades to come.

“Our future is no longer science fiction,” she said. “In this primitive stage, it is our responsibility to empower AI like our own children – but be careful about guidance.”

The event — a meeting of the White House AI Education Task Force, which was formed earlier this year — has so far the first lady of only a handful of public events, and has proved both elusive and influential since her husband returned to the White House.

The 55-year-old first lady and former fashion model was born in Melanija Knavs, Slovenia, and was once described as a “mystery”, with fewer speeches and public events than her ex.

Her relative absence even sparked a series of news reports during her husband’s ultimately successful 2024 campaign, with headlines asking “Where is Melania?”.

Mrs. Trump is rare in the White House, and she reportedly spent most of her time in New York and Florida.

But since the second administration began in January, Mrs. Trump has taken what some have called a more active, focused approach, namely a largely uncertain role, and a role from management to administration.

Much of her focus is on children, a previous “best” initiative developed during Mr. Trump’s first term, which focused on happiness and combats cyberbullying and opioid abuse.

In addition to her recent work on AI, she also Helps drive this behavior Releasing “intimate images” (real or AI-generated) is criminalized without personal consent.

The bill is rare bipartisan support for splitting among American lawmakers.

In the First Lady, she joined her husband on stage to sign the bill, and signed a legislation.

Einav Rabinovitch-Fox, a professor at Case Western Reserve University, focused on Ms. First, told the BBC that while those focusing on young people are “not uncommon,” Mrs. Trump took a different approach.

“The first lady is often focused on areas that are seen as more feminine, such as children and education. Historically, gendered things,” she said. “What Melania might not be unusual is her approach.”

“It’s not from the feminine side of the mother,” Ms. Rabinovitch-Fox added. “But there’s more from the business side.”

For example, Ms. Rabinovitch-Fox noted that Take Down Act has a large number of platforms focusing on hosting revenge porn, requiring them to remove any illegal content within 48 hours, or punish them if they don’t take action.

Despite the focus on education, Thursday’s White House event left Mrs. Trump not surrounded by young people, but represented by cabinet members, executive officials and private sector heavyweights such as IBM and Google.

Anita McBride, director of the first lady initiative at American universities and a former first lady Laura Bush, said key changes in Mrs. Trump compared to her first term.

“Some outside players are willing to work with her and may not have wanted to work with her before.”[Some organisations] The first time I didn’t want to meet her. She had a hard time calling a roundtable. There is no strong structure around her. ”

Ms. McBride, by focusing her efforts on the technology, business and legislation of education and protecting children, Mrs. Trump “increases the urgency around the rapidly evolving emerging technologies.”

“She can now effectively utilize value and substance to use the platform effectively,” she added. “She can be a player who actually helps legislation pass.”

President Trump also said the First Lady was skeptical of the conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who wrote a letter in August saying it was “the time to protect children and future generations around the world.”

The letter – and her attention to the child – did not attract attention. In the following weeks, she received letters from both Olena Zelenska, First Lady of Ukraine and Türkiye’s first lady Emine Erdogan.

Mrs. Trump’s letter is not without precedent, and other first ladies have also played a role in helping to develop U.S. foreign policy.

For example, former first lady Nancy Reagan famously exchanged letters with the likes of Mikhail Gorbachev’s wife, Raisa, and others, such as Pat Nixon and Rosalyn Carter, traveled the world for humanitarian reasons and a way of shuttle diplomacy.

Ms. McBride said Mrs. Trump’s letter to Putin showed that while it may be less visible than some of her ex, she was willing to participate in topics of particular interest.

“She was born in a country influenced by the Soviet Union and had a sensitivity that might not be the case that others don’t have,” she said. “She didn’t have to be present in everything, but wanted to show up on issues that were more relevant to her interests and she could make a difference.”

Ms. McBride said she looked forward to the administration over the next three years and she believes Mrs. Trump will continue to be very selective about her weight as the first lady.

“She does it on her terms,” ​​she said. “She is about quality, not quantity.