Trump’s education secretary makes a tasty mistake: best to start them early

Linda McMahon mistakenly pronounced "AI" as "A1", sparking an internet trend and a playful response from the steak sauce brand A.1.

“Either I'm very slow, or it took me a while to understand that A1 is AI,” my colleague said after watching Linda McMahon, Donald Trump's secretary of education, talking about AI.

This week, the 76-year-old McMahon attended the ASU+GSV education summit and quickly made headlines not for the insights she shared but for the way she kept pronouncing AI.

McMahon kept saying “A1” instead of “AI,” leaving people confused about what she was talking about. Soon, however, there was little doubt that she was referring to artificial intelligence (AI). Unfortunately for her, it wasn’t just a slip of the tongue. She repeatedly made the mistake.

McMahon believes kids should be taught about AI from a young age as they are like sponges that absorb everything.

It didn’t take long for the internet to go bonkers, as “A.1.” coincidentally is a popular Kraft Heinz steak sauce.

A.1. also didn’t miss the opportunity to try and capitalize on the temporary trend that McMahon has become.

The brand posted on Instagram, “You heard her. Every school should have access to A.1.”

Now, as we got this out of our systems, here’s the whole discussion (starts around 1:49), in case you are curious about McMahon's vision on education.