Consumer Electronics Show or CES 2020 had officially started its event on Jan. 7, and although the event is still ongoing until Jan. 10, a lot of tech fans on Twitter already expressed their dismay towards CES after Ivanka Trump-- the first daughter of U.S, President Donald Trump-- appeared and talked about technology on the said event.
Ivanka Trump Delivered CES Keynote Speech By Saying She Believes in 'Innovation'
Ivanka Trump, currently described by White House as one of the advisors of the President, recently went trending after its not-so-shocking appearance in the world's largest consumer electronics show held in Las Vegas.
On Jan. 7, Trump delivered her keynote speech on CES 2020 and explained what White House is currently doing for American workers when it comes to their employment and training for the future jobs in the country.
"It's not only about training for the jobs of the future. People need to be thinking about investing in their current workforce so that they can enable those people to do their same job using different equipment tomorrow," Trump said. "I'm a big believer in innovation and the positive impact productivity has on the economy, and fighting for American dominance in the industry."
Another topic that she listed down on her speech is how technology must be used for developing what she called an interoperable learning record.
According to the first daughter, personal information such as high school diplomas or health records must be easily transferred to smartphones to "enable people to have their information on their iPhone."
Though CNET pointed out that the speech might be welcomed with a lot of 'boos' from the crowd, the speech of Trump seemed to be successfully made as she finished her time to speak-- without any negative remarks from the crowd.
However, there seemed to be a time when the audience was only filled with silence, especially on the part when Trump only speaks about the job policy programs of her father-- which was way out of line from the topic of technology advancement.
#BoyCott CES 2020 Appeared on Twitter Before Trump Speech
Days before CES 2020 even started, a lot of tech fans already expressed their disapproval with the event organizer of CES.
This is after pointing out that Trump does not have the right to speak on a tech event since she was said to have no background in the tech world.
This protest resulted in the trending #Boycott CES 2020 on Twitter.
Twitter users explained that they were disappointed with the Consumer Technology Association's decision to invite Trump as one of their speakers when a lot more personalities are qualified to speak. Even famous tech personalities tend to have negative comments about this decision.
"It saddens me that the CTA is using its power to promote Ms. Trump over the hundreds of qualified leaders of all genders actively working in tech," Lora DiCarlo, a sex tech startup and winner of an innovation award said in a statement Tuesday. "Ms. Trump is simply not the right voice to speak for the tech community."
"There are many more women who are in tech and are entrepreneurs who could run circles around Trump on how technology will impact the future of work," Tech analyst Carolina Milanesi wrote on Forbes. "I don't think I am unfair in believing that Trump did not stop and think if she was the best woman for the job before accepting the invitation from the CTA."
CTA Defended Trump
Though a lot were angry with the decision of CTA, the organizer of CES still defended their decision on making Trump as one of their speakers.
"CTA invites officials from every White House - both Republicans and Democrats - to participate in and speak at CES. The future of work is a critical policy topic for the technology sector," said on a statement by CTA spokeswoman Jennifer Drogus.
CTA President Gary Shapiro even gave praise to Trump on doing a 'great work' with her speech on CES 2020.
