Yes, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said ‘A1’ in response about AI
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon twice referred to artificial intelligence — AI — as “A1.”
In a third instance in the same response, McMahon said “AI.”
In early April 2025, claims (archived) circulated online that U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon had referred to artificial intelligence — AI — as “A1.”
The rumor spread on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived), X (archived), Bluesky (archived) and Reddit (archived).
It is true that during an panel at the ASU+GSV Summit on April 8, 2025, McMahon twice referred to “A1” in response to a question about how education and tech entrepreneurs could develop technology for schools. Shortly before this, in the same reply, McMahon talked about “AI development.”
We reached out to the Department of Education to ask whether McMahon meant to say AI in the two instances she said A1 and await a reply.
The ASU+GSV Summit, a conference hosted by Arizona State University and Global Silicon Valley, seeks to further the public’s access to technology.
Jon Hage, the founder and CEO of Charter Schools USA, asked the education secretary about technology and education (at 15:34):
What would be some of the specific things that education entrepreneurs and tech entrepreneurs that are dedicating their entire career towards better results for students — how can they help during this transition and this new time that’s coming in front of us, how can they participate?
McMahon replied (at 16:18, emphasis ours):
You know, AI development, I mean how can we educate at the speed of light if we don’t have the best technology around, you know, to do that? I heard, I think it was a letter or a report that I heard this morning, I wish I could remember the source, but that there is a school system that’s going to start making sure that first-graders or even pre-Ks have A1 teaching, you know, every year starting, you know, that far down in the grades. And that’s just a, that’s a wonderful thing. Kids are sponges, you they, just absorb everything and so wasn’t all that long ago that it’s: “We’re going to have internet in our schools, whoop!” Now, OK, let’s do, see, A1 and how can that be helpful? How can it be helpful in one-on-one instruction, how can it be helpful in absorbing, you know, more information for those fast learners? It can be more one-on-one directed, and those are the kinds of things and innovations that I want to see continue to develop.
Following McMahon’s response, social media users were quick to joke that the education secretary had confused AI with A.1. steak sauce.
A.1. itself posted (archived) an image on Instagram with a bottle of its sauce and the text: “Agree, best to start them early,” captioned: “You heard her. Every school should have access to A.1.” The bottle was labeled “for educational purposes only.”
McMahon’s appointment as secretary of education coincided with U.S. President Donald Trump’s ambition, and executive order, to dismantle the Department of Education.
Trump previously said: “I told Linda, ‘Linda, I hope you do a great job and put yourself out of a job.’ I want her to put herself out of a job.”
During her April 8, 2025, summit appearance, McMahon appeared to support Trump’s ambition, saying (at 6:43):
You know, we’ve just gotten to a point that we just can’t keep going along doing what we’re doing, let’s shake it up. Let’s do something different. And it’s not through bureaucracy in Washington, that is not where it happens.
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