First spouses tout AI education for children in Washington

First lady Melania Trump told world leaders and tech industry innovators the path forward for young people is to boost access to digital technology and artificial intelligence education. First ladies and first gentlemen from 45 nations met at the State Department for a two-day summit beginning Tuesday to talk about their initiatives to educate children and equip parents for the digital age.

White House Science and Technology Office Director Michael Kratsios told guests the United States is committed to protecting children online while incentivizing companies and educators to expand their use of artificial intelligence.

Roundtable discussions covered topics including AI education, digital literacy, and online safety. This comes days after President Trump unveiled a legislative framework for establishing online safeguards while giving tech companies free rein for development.

What are other countries doing? Serbian first lady Tamara Vučić said her country is leading with what she characterized as digital immunization, rather than prohibitions, teaching students about the digital world starting in first grade.

Slovenia’s first gentleman, Aleš Musar, compared AI tools to when calculators took chemistry classes by storm, suggesting AI is a similarly massive breakthrough. He said his nation needs a curriculum to teach children how to use AI tools responsibly.

Leaders of developing nations said the challenge is not just equipping children to navigate the digital world safely, but giving them access to begin with. First lady María Elena Urquidi of Bolivia said her country is working on putting laptops in the hands of every child and teaching them to code.

What about the downsides of AI? Andrew Ferguson, the chairman of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, said children’s data should not become grist for the digital mill, and their privacy should be protected. He also told attendees governments cannot replace parents in safeguarding children online, but must equip parents to make informed decisions.

Last year, President Donald Trump signed into law the Take It Down Act, which aims to target child exploitation online.

Dig deeper: Read my report on President Trump’s AI policy framework.