Melania Trump, the wife of the US president, rarely speaks publicly, but in one such appearance, she warned of the dangers of advancing technology and artificial intelligence.
"Robots are here, among us. It is our responsibility to prepare American children" for the decades ahead, driven by artificial intelligence, the first lady said in a rare public address.
“Our future is no longer science fiction,” she said at a meeting of the White House Artificial Intelligence Education Task Force.
"It is our duty to treat artificial intelligence like our own children - empowering it, but managing it carefully," warned Donald Trump's wife.
Born Melania Knavs in Slovenia, the 55-year-old US first lady and former model was once often described as an "enigma" and mysterious.
She speaks much less publicly than some of her predecessors.
Her general absence from her husband's rallies during the 2024 presidential campaign often drew as much attention as the rallies, with many newspapers running headlines asking: "Where's Melania?"
Melania Trump is rarely in the White House, and reportedly spends most of her time in New York and Florida.
But since the start of her husband's second term in January, Melania Trump has taken a more active approach to the role of first lady - which is largely undefined and changes from administration to administration, and president to president.
She devotes a large part of her attention to her children.
During Trump's first term as president, she led the "Be the Best" initiative aimed at protecting children from online bullying and drug abuse.
She is also active in representing the Law on Removal (Take It Down Act), which criminalized publishing "intimate images" - real or artificially generated - on the internet without the individual's consent.
It's rare for Republicans and Democrats in Congress to agree on a law - but they did on this one.
After its adoption, Melania Trump joined her husband for the first time at a public event of this type to sign, or ratify, the law with him.
- Melania Trump: An unusual, traditional first lady
- Five interesting facts from Melania Trump's autobiographical book
- The first lady as Smurfette: Melania Trump received a sculpture in Slovenia
"It's not uncommon" for people in high office to focus on young people, and Melania Trump has a slightly different approach, says Einav Rabinovich-Fox, a professor at Case Western Reserve University and a historian who studies the behavior of first ladies.
"First ladies tend to focus on areas that are considered more feminine, like children and education. Things that have historically been gendered."
"What is perhaps unusual about Melania is her approach."
"And not because of her maternal and feminine side, but more from a business perspective," the professor believes.
As an example, Rabinowitz-Fox noted that the Pornography Removal Act was largely focused on platforms that place revenge pornography.
It required that any unauthorized content be removed within 48 hours or such internet domains and platforms would be fined.
And while the focus is now on education, at the White House meeting Melania Trump was surrounded not by young people, but by cabinet members, administration officials and representatives of private sector heavyweights such as IBM (IBM) i Gubl (Google).
Anita McBride, director of the First Ladies Initiative at American University - and former chief of staff to former first lady Laura Bush - says events like this show a key change in Melania Trump's behavior compared to her husband's first term.
"There are external players who are willing to collaborate with her, who may not have wanted to do so before."
"[Some organizations] were hesitant to meet with her before. She had difficulty convening roundtables and didn't have a strong structure behind her."
Melania Trump now doesn't stay on the sidelines even when world politics is in question.
Donald Trump previously stated that The first lady expressed doubts regarding his previous talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
She wrote a letter to Putin in August saying that it was "time to protect children and future generations around the world."
The letter did not go unnoticed.
In the weeks that followed, she received letters and from the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska i from the first lady of Turkey, Emine Erdogan, who asked Melania Trump to also engage with children in Gaza, as she did for children affected by the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Melania Trump's letter to Putin is not the first of its kind in history - other first ladies have also participated in shaping US foreign policy.
Former First Lady Nancy Reagan, for example, she exchanged letters with Raisa, her husband the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
Drugs, pop Pet Nikson and Rosalyn Carter, they traveled the world for humanitarian reasons and so-called 'shuttle diplomacy'.
McBride says Melania Trump's letter to Putin, however, shows that, while she may be less visible than some of her predecessors, she is willing to engage on issues that particularly interest her.
"She was born in a country that was under Soviet influence (Yugoslavia, ed. transl.) and has a level of sensitivity that maybe others don't have," she said.
"She doesn't have to be present in everything, but she wants to be present in issues that are more related to her interests and where she can make a difference."
McBride says she believes Melania Trump will continue to be extremely selective when it comes to the events she attends as First Lady of the United States.
"She's doing it on her terms."
"She is interested in quality, not quantity, and she is not burdened by how some other first lady has performed this role in the past."
BBC is in Serbian from now on and on YouTube, follow us HERE.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube i Viber. If you have a topic proposal for us, contact us at bbcnasrpskom@bbc.co.uk
- Melania Trump defies her husband and supports the right to abortion
- Donald Trump on the assassination, the mystical Melania shone on stage
- Is Trump 'encouraging' Ukraine to attack Moscow and what does Melania say about the war?
- Trump after the guilty verdict: "I'm fine, but everything was difficult for Melania"
- Melania Trump threatens to sue Joseph Biden's son over 'Epstein affair'
- 'I did not write an obscene birthday card to Epstein,' Trump claims
Bonus video:
