President Donald Trump’s education secretary repeatedly referred to artificial intelligence as “A1”—like the popular steak sauce—instead of “AI” during a panel on artificial intelligence in education.
“I wish I could remember the source, but there’s a school system that’s going to start making sure that first graders or even pre-Ks have A1 teaching every year starting that far down in the grades,” said Education Secretary Linda McMahon, 76, at a summit put on by Silicon Vally investors in California on Tuesday.
Her fellow panelists, whose companies utilize AI, nodded along.
It wasn’t a one-off slip-up, though.
A few moments later, McMahon said, “Kids are sponges. They just absorb everything. It wasn’t all that long ago that it was, ‘Oh, we’re gonna have internet in our schools, woo.’ Now, let’s see A1 and how can that be helpful.”
Making the situation even more bizarre, McMahon pronounces AI correctly earlier during the same panel discussion. The Education Department didn’t respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment on the secretary’s apparent mistake.
McMahon, a Trump loyalist who led his Small Business Administration during his first term, was a controversial pick for education secretary given her lack of experience in the field. She was formerly the chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment, which she founded alongside her now-estranged husband, Vince McMahon.
Last month, Trump signed an executive order to begin the process of dismantling the Department of Education, arguing that education should be left entirely to the states.
Back in February, he said that McMahon’s primary task in her role is to oversee the destruction of the agency she is leading.
“I told Linda, ‘I hope you do a great job and put yourself out of a job,‘” Trump said. “I want her to put herself out of a job.”
The post WATCH: Ed Sec Calls Artificial Intelligence ‘A1’ Like the Steak Sauce appeared first on The Daily Beast.
