Linda McMahon mixed up AI and A.1. — so of course now the steak sauce is all over it

There are myriad uses for AI these days, but so far it hasn’t had much application as a condiment.

Don’t tell U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon that. McMahon made a tasty mistake Thursday when she mixed up AI (artificial intelligence) and A.1. (KHC+2.17%) (the steak sauce) while speaking at the ASU+GSV education summit, an event put on by Silicon Valley investors. She was discussing modern classroom tools when she started to confuse the two terms.

McMahon said she’d heard about “a school system that’s going to start making sure that first graders, or even pre-Ks, have A1 teaching in every year,” which she said was a “wonderful thing.”

But the comment wasn’t just an isolated slip of the tongue. McMahon added, “Kids are sponges. They just absorb everything. It wasn’t all that long ago that it was, ‘We’re going to have internet in our schools!’ Now let’s see A1 and how can that be helpful.”

The steak sauce company, a U.S. subsidiary of Kraft Heinz, then seemed to savor McMahon’s gaffe in particularly saucy posts to social media.

On X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram (META-0.59%), accounts for A.1. Original Sauce wrote, “You heard her. Every school should have access to A.1.” alongside a bottle slapped with a logo that reads, “For education purposes only.” The graphic next to the bottle says, “Agree. Best to start them early.”

Confusingly, McMahon actually called artificial intelligence by its correct name (AI) earlier in the panel but became less consistent as she spoke.

McMahon, 76, was a controversial pick for education secretary given her lack of experience in the area; she was formerly the CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which she founded with her now-estranged husband, Vince. The Senate confirmed her position in the Trump cabinet in a 51-to-45 vote in early March.

Last month, Trump signed an executive order to begin dismantling the Department of Education to return the overseeing of education to the states and not the federal government.

“I told Linda, ‘I hope you do a great job and put yourself out of a job,’” Trump said. “I want her to put herself out of a job.”