Katie Zacharia Was Linked to an AI Rare-Earths Startup. It’s Even Weirder Than It Sounds

NRED Intelligent Mining publicly announced that Katie Zacharia would join its advisory board, but Zacharia says the announcement was fake and that she never took up a role. The episode adds an unusual twist to scrutiny of her brief White House press secretary tenure and raises questions about how the company presented its leadership.

The company, previously called NovaRed Mining, said in June that Zacharia would advise it on exploration and AI initiatives alongside former US homeland security secretary Kristi Noem. A company executive confirmed discussions took place but said the role never materialised, while the announcement remained on NRED’s website as of Friday. The Canadian firm has since shifted from a copper and gold project towards developing an AI-assisted mineral exploration platform called MetalCore, and has added advisers with political and defence connections.