New York school pauses AI robot teacher plan after company ties to NSFW project surface

As Whitney Houston told us in "Greatest Love of All", children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way.

While there have undoubtedly been some benefits to the evolution of technology in schools, there have also been some obvious drawbacks.

If getting kids to take their faces out of their smartphones and away from TikTok for two seconds wasn't hard enough, most of them are using ChatGPT or other AI tools to do their homework or cheat on tests.

Is it any real wonder that surveys from the RAND Corporation State of the American Teacher claim turnover and stress remain above pre-pandemic norms, with teacher retention levels under serious strain?

While you might think teaching is safe from being replaced by AI as parents and guardians continue to put the education of their little ones in the hands of actual flesh and blood humans, the Salamanca City Central School District's board might’ve suggested otherwise when it tried to employ a robot teacher. Emphasis on the 'tried' bit there.

As reported by Fortune, the school board approved a $60,000 agreement with a robotics company called Realbotix.

The humanoid 'Sally' would aid in classrooms for high school students studying the fields of robotics and technology, looking like she'd bring a touch of futuristic class to the rural upstate New York locale.

Superintendent Mark Beehler cheered Sally's arrival as he explained: "Having a difficult time programming an Arduino board? Don’t even know what an Arduino board is? Ask Sally and she can explain it.

“The robot also provides opportunities for students to learn how the robot is maintained, how it is updated with new approved content, and how to troubleshoot issues."

Unfortunately for Beehler, the hype was short-lived as parents and teachers alike worried about how the personal information could be handed over to Realbotix.

More than this, Realbotix was formerly known as Tokens.com and reportedly purchased a Las Vegas-based sex doll company called Simulacra for $16.7 million in April 2024.

Realbotix LLC has also distanced itself from connections to sister company Intima LLC and insisted it's not part of the Sally pilot program in any way.

Although the district also separated Sally from RealDoll, Melinda Person, president of the labor union New York State United Teachers, reiterated: "A robot built by a company associated with sex dolls has no business in our classrooms."

A now-deleted district post on its Facebook page confirmed the Sally program is on hold as parties try to work out "enhanced student data privacy agreements” and state education officials continue to discuss the matter with the community.

Away from these potentially NSFW ties, there are further concerns about the role of robots in classrooms in general. State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa wrote a letter to the district stating:

"Although you confirmed that the robot would not have any role delivering classroom instruction, a recent presentation to the board characterized the robot as a ‘tutoring platform'."

As this was echoed by fears that robots will replace actual teachers, Person said: "Our students don’t need robots. They need real relationships with caring adults."

Beehler has continued to defend the idea, adding: "There is no possible way a robot can replace a human in a school. Even if it were possible, it would in no way be in the best interest of students. Teaching is a human-to-human process."

Fortune says Beehler is connected to Realbotix through a former colleague, with him arguing that the company is a natural fit because both the district and Realbotix's robots use the same WozEd curriculum from Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

Realbotix stressed that Sally isn't a repurposed sex doll but is a "newly manufactured, purpose-built educational unit."

In its own statement, Realbotix concluded: "Realbotix LLC and Intima LLC have different product offerings with no crossover. The two subsidiaries maintain their own management, personnel, payroll, facilities, manufacturing operations, product development, and market strategies."

To be honest, it all sounds like a particularly madcap episode of Abbott Elementary.