Former US Spokesperson Denies Advisory Role at AI Mining Firm, Calls Announcement "False"

According to reporting by Wired journalists Tess Owen and Tim Marchman, the name of former White House press secretary Katie Zacharia appeared on the advisory roster of NRED Intelligent Mining, a company touting AI-driven rare earth mining. She denies the appointment, and a person connected to the company acknowledges the listing existed while explaining that the role never became a reality. The gap between the public statements of a startup waving the AI banner and its actual state has now come into focus through the accounts of multiple individuals.

Overview of AI Mining Company NRED and the

Announcement

The story begins with an announcement on June 24, 2026. At the time, a small copper and gold exploration company based in Vancouver, Canada, then known as NovaRed Mining, announced that Zacharia would join as an advisor. The company has since changed its name to NRED Intelligent Mining.

The announcement stated that Zacharia would join an advisory board alongside Kristi Noem. Noem is a former Secretary of Homeland Security and serves as a strategic advisor to NRED. Zacharia was said to provide the board with “strategic guidance” on advancing exploration projects and on “emerging artificial intelligence-related initiatives.” The announcement came eight days after Noem’s appointment was announced.

According to Wired’s reporting, Zacharia had left her role as a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson two months earlier. Rare earths are materials essential to a broad range of advanced industries, including semiconductors, electric vehicles, and defense equipment, and efforts to bring AI and robotics into the mining process have become an area of growing interest over the past several years. NRED appears to position itself within that context.

The Advisory Appointment Announcement and the

Denial by the Individual

Zacharia herself, however, does not acknowledge the appointment as fact. When Wired asked her on Friday whether she was still listed on the advisory board, she said, “That’s false,” and referred the outlet to Sam Amsterdam.

Amsterdam describes himself as a “strategic marketing and media relations expert” and is said to have clients including the government of Kazakhstan and political parties in Georgia, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe. He explained that “the announcement was not approved by Zacharia and was issued without her consent.”

Amsterdam’s brother is listed as a member of the management team on NRED’s website. He said he was speaking as a friend and colleague of Zacharia and stated that he is not an agent of the company. He added that although there were discussions about her joining, she in fact did not come on board.

The Company’s Account of How the Role Never

Materialized

The company offers a similar account. Valentin Saitarli, NRED’s chief technology officer, who says he is currently in the process of becoming chief executive officer, acknowledged that there were discussions about the role. But he said it “did not become a reality,” describing it as “like joining a gym but never actually going to work out.”

Saitarli explained that NRED “will make full use of robots and AI.” This suggests a company that puts AI at the core of its mining operations. At the same time, it also reveals a gap between the roster of people it presented externally and those who were actually involved.

The Listing That Remained on the Website

Discrepancies remain over how public information was handled. Amsterdam indicated he understood the announcement had been retracted, but as of Wired’s check, the announcement of Zacharia’s appointment was still posted on NRED’s website. In an archived version, Zacharia was listed as a member of the management team at least as of July.

When Wired asked Saitarli about this point, he replied that the site was being updated. The external announcement, the individual’s own understanding, and the description that remains on the website — these three pieces of information are not in agreement. This suggests the possibility that information meant to vouch for the company’s credibility was left public for an extended period without anyone’s approval.

Questions Over the Former Spokesperson’s

Background and Statements

Multiple questions have long been raised about Zacharia’s background. According to Wired, she was fired on her fifth day as White House press secretary. She also reportedly had to later admit that, despite long describing herself as a lawyer, she had never passed the California bar exam. In addition, Wired reported that she had worked as an affiliate marketer for Beachbody, a fitness-focused multi-level marketing company.

She served for about a month under Noem as a deputy assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security. She has been reported to be close to Corey Lewandowski, described as the department’s de facto chief of staff, though she has denied this.

The Divergence Between the Claims and Reality

of AI-Using Companies

This sequence of events raises the question of how well startups that hold up AI as the axis of their growth can control their external messaging. Advisory rosters and press releases are consulted by investors and business partners as information that vouches for a company’s credibility. Yet in this case, a matter in which the individual denied involvement and the company explained that it “never actually materialized” remained public information for a long time.

Efforts to make the reality of AI adoption and AI spending visible are also spreading in the context of corporate governance. Initiatives such as the AI spending tracking tool announced by Rippling aim to make AI-related spending and activity visible. This case can be positioned not as a matter of spending, but as one in which the verification of “external claims” was called into question.

Editorial Opinion

In the short term, investors and business partners will take a harder look at the external announcements of startups touting AI. Our editorial team expects that confirming the backing for advisory rosters and press releases will increasingly be treated as a precondition for fundraising and partnerships. In particular, the use of individuals’ names to bolster credibility will become a point at which verification of the person’s own confirmation is demanded.

In the long term, the criteria for evaluating AI companies will expand beyond technology and track record to include the accuracy of public information. If listings of advisors or management diverge from reality, corporate value itself can be damaged. Demand may grow for mechanisms that continuously verify what is written on the web.

Our editorial team believes that when a company says it “uses AI,” what is being questioned is the design of governance — who approves that claim and who verifies it. How to ensure the reliability of external announcements is an unresolved challenge for corporate governance in the AI era.

References

• “Katie Zacharia Was Linked to an AI Rare-Earths Startup. It’s Even Weirder Than It Sounds”, by Tess Owen, Tim Marchman — Wired, 2026-10-16T20:05:08.000Z (ARR)
• Source URL: https://www.wired.com/story/katie-zacharia-was-linked-to-an-ai-rare-earths-startup-its-even-weirder-than-it-sounds/