JEFFERSON, N.C. (AP) — First lady Melania Trump visited a school in northwestern North Carolina on Tuesday to talk to elementary school students, teachers and staff about how they’re using technology in the classroom.
Her long-planned trip to Ashe County Tuesday came as tech and political leaders debate about how best to regulate artificial intelligence. Prominent tech leaders have expressed concerns about the dangers of the technology and called for more oversight, while President Donald Trump on Monday angrily dismissed the idea that more limits are needed, calling it a “hoax.”
Many parents have also expressed alarm about the widespread adoption of tablets with access to sites like YouTube even in classrooms with the youngest students.
The first lady visited Mountain View Elementary School in rural Jefferson, which has a focus on using AI, robotics and engineering.
She opened her trip by recognizing the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene, which kept students out of school for more than 30 days as the community grappled with recovering from the emergency. Mountain View’s neighborhood flooded and the school was transformed into a distribution center.
“Your story is incredible,” she told the students and school administrators. “North Carolina is the definition of resilience. Toughness in times of adversity is ingrained in the Tar Heel State’s character.”
She also announced that her Be Best initiative would be helping to provide 1,500 students in Ashe County with subscriptions to StudyFetch, an AI learning platform, and that Mountain View Elementary and other schools in the district would be receiving 100 Jetson Nano Developer Kits — small computers for running AI applications.
“Maybe one of you will create the next great robot,” she said. “And if you do, make sure you bring it to the White House to show me.”
The first lady made headlines earlier this year when she walked into a White House event with a humanoid robot at a summit she hosted with other first spouses about empowering children with technology.
Last September, at a meeting of a White House task force on AI in education, she noted that the technology was boosting economic growth but also expressed some caution.
“As leaders and parents, we must manage AI’s growth responsibly,” she said at last year’s event. “During this primitive stage, it is our duty to treat AI as we would our own children — empowering, but with watchful guidance.”
Technology in education is one of the first lady’s signature issues, along with advocacy for foster children, and lobbying Congress to pass the “Take It Down Act” making revenge porn a crime.
It’s the first lady’s fourth trip to North Carolina since 2025. She accompanied the president to meet families affected by Hurricane Helene at the beginning of his term, and subsequently spent time with military families in other parts of the state.
The state is home to one of the most closely watched Senate races of the November midterm elections, pitting Michael Whatley, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, against Democrat Roy Cooper, a former governor. The president is traveling to Gastonia in the southern part of the state on Wednesday for a rally for Whatley.
