People across the United States can interact with an artificial intelligence-powered George Washington portrait aboard “Freedom Trucks,” mobile museums put together by PragerU, an entertainment nonprofit that injects conservative and “Judeo-Christian values” into its educational programs.
In celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary, Freedom 250, the private-public partnership created by Donald Trump’s administration, has sent six 18-wheeler mobile museums to different parts of the country to promote American history.
While the trucks ose contain facts about the creation of the U.S. from the British colonial period to the Revolutionary War, one report from The Atlantic questioned the factual basis of some of the information featured.
For one, the AI George Washington gave a monologue that included the line, “Our rights are a gift from God, not a favor from kings or courts,” which the executive director of the George Washington Presidential Library told The Atlantic did not sound like the first president.
“He regularly spoke of providence and a higher power, but usually called on republican values and virtues to defend his positions,” Lindsay Chervinsky, the executive director, said.
A spokesperson for Freedom 250 said in a statement that the AI George Washington follows a script but does not directly quote the nation’s first president.
The Independent has asked PragerU for comment.
The truck also falsely states that Maryland was settled in 1664. The state was first settled in 1634. A Freedom 250 spokesperson told The Atlantic they were “reviewing the matter.”
Aside from the scripted AI and questionable facts, the mobile museum trucks appear to emphasize Christianity while recounting U.S. history such as mentioning Congress “made several important changes” to the first draft of the Declaration of Independence by adding “references to the ‘Supreme Judge of the World’ and ‘divine Providence.’”
The trucks repeatedly use the word “faith” and include information about early Christian settlements, The Atlantic reported.
That has raised some concerns among museum experts.
The executive director of the Fort Smith Museum of History, located in Arkansas, canceled the Freedom Truck’s slated appearance in mid-July because it did not align with “standards and expectations,” according to local outlet 5 News Online.
“We believe cancelling as host of this event is the appropriate course of action and one that is consistent with our responsibility as an educational institution,” said the museum’s director Caroline Speir, adding that the museum is committed to providing meaningful programs and experiences.
PragerU has routinely faced scrutiny over its whitewashed and factually inaccurate history lessons in videos tailored for school-aged children. The organization’s programs have previously called slavery a “compromise” and downplayed the severity of the climate crisis.
Since Trump returned to the White House last year, the administration has expanded its partnership with the group, while the president and senior officials have bolstered their Christian views and ties into official messaging.
“I feel very, very strongly that if young Americans are going to be taught to hate America, they’re not going to want to enlist in the military,” PragerU CEO Marissa Streit told The Atlantic. “They’re not going to want to defend America. They will propagate anti-American ideas that will lead to the weakening of our country and our society.”
