Melania Trump to Visit North Carolina School as AI Debate Intensifies
Melania Trump will tour an Ashe County elementary school to discuss classroom technology as tech and political leaders clash over AI regulation.
First lady Melania Trump is scheduled to visit northwestern North Carolina on Tuesday, where she will meet elementary school students, teachers and staff to discuss how technology is being used in the classroom.
The long-planned trip to Ashe County lands in the middle of a heated national argument over how artificial intelligence should be regulated. Technology leaders have raised alarms about the risks of the technology and pushed for stronger oversight, while President Donald Trump on Monday rejected the case for additional limits, describing the idea as a "hoax."
Technology in education has become one of the first lady's signature causes. Earlier this year, she drew attention when she entered a White House event alongside a humanoid robot at a summit she hosted with other spouses of world leaders on empowering children through technology.
She returned to the theme last September at a meeting of a White House task force on AI in education, acknowledging the technology's role in driving economic growth while urging caution. "As leaders and parents, we must manage AI's growth responsibly," she said at the time. "During this primitive stage, it is our duty to treat AI as we would our own children — empowering, but with watchful guidance."
Beyond education technology, her advocacy has focused on foster children and on lobbying Congress to pass the "Take It Down Act," which would make revenge porn a crime.
Tuesday's visit is her fourth trip to North Carolina since 2025. She previously accompanied the president to meet families affected by Hurricane Helene early in his term and later spent time with military families elsewhere in the state.
North Carolina is home to one of the most closely watched Senate contests of the November midterm elections, where Michael Whatley, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, is running against former Democratic governor Roy Cooper. The president is due in Gastonia, in the southern part of the state, on Wednesday for a rally supporting Whatley.