U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon attended the ASU+GSV Summit this week, where experts in education and technology gathered to discuss how AI will impact learning.
While speaking on a panel about AI in the workforce, McMahon repeatedly referred to AI as “A1,” like the steak sauce.
“You know, AI development — I mean, how can we educate at the speed of light if we don’t have the best technology around to do that?” she said. “I heard … that there was a school system that’s going to start making sure that first graders, or even pre-Ks, have A1 teaching in every year, starting that far down in the grades. That’s a wonderful thing!”
In McMahon’s defense, it doesn’t seem like she actually thinks that artificial intelligence is abbreviated “A1.” During the panel, she said “AI” at first, but became increasingly less consistent.
“It wasn’t all that long ago that it was, ‘We’re going to have internet in our schools!’” she continued. “Now let’s see A1, and how can that be helpful.”
AI is such a ubiquitous term that it seems hard to imagine how one could forget the correct acronym — it’s like if a professional athlete referred to Major League Baseball as the “NFL.”
Sometimes people misspeak. Nobody’s perfect. But this feels like a bigger whiff than usual, particularly coming from the Secretary of Education.
Amanda Silberling is a senior writer at TechCrunch covering the intersection of technology and culture. She has also written for publications like Polygon, MTV, the Kenyon Review, NPR, and Business Insider. She is the co-host of Wow If True, a podcast about internet culture, with science fiction author Isabel J. Kim. Prior to joining TechCrunch, she worked as a grassroots organizer, museum educator, and film festival coordinator. She holds a B.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania and served as a Princeton in Asia Fellow in Laos.
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