New Delhi: The future made a carefully choreographed entry into the White House on 25 March, as United States First Lady Melania Trump walked down the red carpet alongside a humanoid robot on day two of the global Fostering the Future Together Global Coalition Summit on artificial intelligence and education.
The scene, reminiscent of a science fiction film, unfolded as the pair moved in step to a hallway lined with delegates. Trump paused at the entrance, while the robot, Figure 03, developed by Silicon Valley startup Figure AI, continued ahead, navigated around the table of panellists heading to the front of the room and introduced itself.
“Thank you, First Lady Melania Trump, for inviting me to the White House,” the US-made humanoid said after briefly scanning the room and calling its presence a “historic movement to empower children with technology and education.”
The humanoid waved before stepping away to greet the audience in eleven different languages.
“It’s fair to state that you’re my first American-made humanoid guest in the White House,” Trump said in her opening remarks.
The summit brought together representatives, including spouses of world leaders, from 45 countries, alongside executives from major technology companies, including Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI. Among those in attendance were France’s Brigitte Macron, Ukraine’s Olena Zelenska and Israel’s Sara Netanyahu. The initiative was first announced by Trump in September 2025 during the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
In her keynote address, Trump outlined three pillars she said would shape the next generation — use of AI to personalise learning, the emergence of humanoid educators as at-home tools for students, and technology and education as drivers of the US economy.
Also Read: ‘Tehran Tames Trump’—Indian news TV mocks five-day pause as Western media scratches its head
Melania Trump’s AI push
The robot featured at the event is the third-generation model unveiled by Figure AI, an American robotics company known for developing AI-powered humanoids, in October 2025. Designed for domestic use, it is capable of performing household tasks such as cleaning, laundry and washing dishes autonomously.
Brett Adcock, Figure AI CEO, posted on X, “So proud to see F.03 make history as the first humanoid robot in the White House.”
The summit builds on Trump’s “Fostering the Future” initiative, which aims to expand global access to education and digital tools for children. The White House, in an official statement, described it as a coalition of nations aligned to empower children through technology and learning, and said that it marked the first time a US First Lady had convened delegates from 45 countries in a single day.
“Our key driver is to cultivate the skills young people need to be successful in this rapidly evolving world. Fostering the Future Together will achieve this by creating innovative learning programs, advocating for supportive education policies, sponsoring new tech-focused legislation, and building strong partnerships between the public and private sectors,” Trump said while addressing the delegates. She urged countries to collaborate across sectors, establish regional networks and invest in research.
Also Read: Statue of Liberty was bombed in latest AI video. How Iran escalates meme war with US-Israel
A flurry of memes and jokes
Clips from the event quickly went viral, drawing mixed reactions online. Some expressed unease at the spectacle, while others hailed it as a glimpse into a rapidly approaching future.
One X user called it “a bold way to showcase American tech on a global stage.”
An X post read, “This is the exact moment humans lost control–and everyone’s blindly applauding…this doesn’t feel like innovation.”
“It’s not the robot that worries me the most. It is the naturalness with which we accept it. When we begin to replace human presence with machines in the most symbolic spaces of power, we are saying something profound about how we value (or devalue) the genuinely human,” chimed in another user.
(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)