Historians Lament Education Secretary's Use of AI Imagery

Education Secretary Linda McMahon has been criticized for using artificial intelligence in a series of posts paying homage to female icons in American history.

McMahon recently posted on Truth Social praising Black journalist and educator Ida B. Wells, who was an early leader in the civil rights movement. While the post was welcomed for shining a light on an important historical figure, it was McMahon’s choice of image that ruffled feathers.

“The decision to use an AI-generated image undermines the very values she stood for: truth-telling and her lifelong campaign against false representations,” Paula Giddings, who wrote a biography on Wells, tells The Washington Post. “To use a fabricated image — even a respectful one — is not only unnecessary but is evidence that the secretary of education misreads [Wells’s] legacy.”

The Trump administration’s enthusiasm for AI is no secret; the President himself has been in hot water this week for posting an image depicting him as Jesus (although he says it was him as a doctor). But McMahon has used AI in all her posts about important women, including Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, and Dolley Madison. There are real photos of all those women that McMahon could have used.

Executive director of the American Historical Association, Sarah Weicksel, points to the historical errors that are contained within the AI-generated images and illustrations.

“The use of AI to pull together infographics about individuals has resulted in poor quality and inconsistent resources in education,” Weicksel tells The Washington Post.

In particular, the Wells post shows her writing with a quill pen next to a candle. But when Wells was active around the late 19th century, metal pens and gas lights were more common.

“The AI images are pulling from material that is historically inaccurate,” adds Weicksel. “We have excellent sources for all of these women, so there is no point to using something that is AI-generated.”

McMahon, who famously founded World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) with her husband Vince, is not the only Trump ally with a penchant for posting AI imagery: last week the Governor of Texas Greg Abbott shared an AI image of a U.S. pilot being rescued in Iran.