President Trump on Wednesday talked with an AI-powered hologram of former President Theodore Roosevelt.
“Do you consider the Panama Canal your greatest achievement?” Trump asked the ghostly image at the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota.
“The canal stands as one of my proudest battles, no question. But greatness is a strange thing,” the AI Teddy said.
“I measure my greatest work by the lives improved, parks set aside, food and drugs made safe, the square deal given to all, not just to a few …Still, when I stood in the mud, watching those steam shovels, knowing ships would pass through, changing the world’s map forever, I felt I’d left a mark that would last,” the long-dead former president added.
Trump responded, “OK, you did. Thank you.”
Construction on the Panama Canal, championed by Roosevelt, began in 1903 and was completed in 1914. The US slowly began ceding control of the canal zone to Panama in 1977 and the handover was completed in 1999.
Early in his second term, Trump was keen on regaining control of the Panama Canal, vowing, “We’re taking it back,” in his inaugural address.
In another interaction, posted by White House aide Margo Martin, AI Teddy offered Trump some words of advice and encouragement.
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“Everyday a president faces storms people never see. Keep your nerve and remember the nation comes first and you get through it. I know you know that feeling yourself,” the hologram said.
Trump told AI Teddy that he “appreciated” the “fantastic” words.
“It’s an honor to be with you today,” the president added.
The AI Roosevelt exhibit was one of several Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum viewed during a tour of the new $450 million presidential library.
The exhibit was built by Microsoft, with the software company’s Azure Conversational AI Platform acting as the brain behind the hologram and LemonSlice, an AI research lab, providing the interactive avatar technology.
The Teddy AI was trained on hundreds of thousands of documents from, to, and about the former president, according to LemonSlice.
The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, N.D., officially opens to the public on July 4, coinciding with America’s 250th anniversary.
