An unexpected guest escorted Melania Trump at the Fostering the Future Together Global Coalition Summit on Wednesday: a walking, talking Figure 03 humanoid robot.
During the event, the first lady pitched a future where AI-powered humanoid robots -- presented as an idealized educator named "Plato" -- provide students with personalized and instant access to human knowledge, including philosophy and art.
The Figure 03 robot is made by Silicon Valley-based robotics company Figure AI, which introduced its third-generation humanoid robot in October last year. The Figure 03 robot costs around $25,000, according to Forbes.
Figure 03 was designed for people to use in their homes, with demo videos showing it folding laundry, lifting eggs from a carton, using a washing machine and delivering drinks to its owners lounging by the pool. It was also shown in corporate use cases as a receptionist and a package deliverer. Using a proprietary AI engine called Helix, it can autonomously perform these tasks and respond to your voice commands.
Watch this: Figure 03: Everything We Know About the New Humanoid Robot
At the White House, the humanoid robot walked slowly down the red carpet to deliver opening remarks for the tech summit.
"I'm grateful to be part of this historic movement to empower children with technology and education," the Figure 03 robot said. It then said "welcome" in various languages.
The first lady later said that AI-powered humanoid robots could be placed in children's homes as an aid to their education to "boost analytic skills and problem solving and adapt in real time to a student's pace, prior knowledge and even emotional state."
Promoting AI in education
The two-day summit is hosting leaders from 45 nations and 28 technology organizations, and is intended to "empower children through education and technology," according to a White House statement. Guests included representatives from tech giants such as Google, OpenAI, and Microsoft and the AI data analytics company Palantir.
The summit is part of the first lady's Be Best: Fostering the Future initiative, which aims to help children learn using advanced technology. It was introduced in 2018 as an awareness campaign aimed at combating cyberbullying and helping children affected by the opioid crisis.
US Education Secretary Linda McMahon spoke about AI being one of the Department of Education's main priorities on the first day of the summit.
"If we're able to scale these resources effectively by investing in AI infrastructure and training, we can offer expert instructions across countless fields, to hire volumes of people at a fraction of the cost," McMahon said Tuesday at a roundtable meeting.
According to McMahon, the Department of Education has already dedicated millions of dollars in grants to support the use of AI in schools.
The event follows criticism of the Trump administration's 2025 executive order to dismantle the Department of Education. While the Department of Education hasn't been officially abolished, it has undergone significant policy changes, funding cuts and workforce reductions.
The introduction of a humanoid robot at the summit sparked significant backlash among many who are wary of the technology's role in the classroom. Critics took to social media to voice concerns that these machines could eventually replace teachers, stripping the education system of essential human connection, and leading to increased layoffs and cost-cutting.
On one Huffington Post Instagram post featuring the robot, commenters expressed deep skepticism, with one user sarcastically noting, "Nice, getting rid of educators in favor of a robot," while another flatly rejected the concept, stating, "No, I don't want to imagine a world with emotionless robots educating our children."
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
