A student being bullied at school. Struggling with their homework. Bringing a gun to school. These are familiar scenarios, but what happens when the person encountering them first isn’t a person at all but an AI-programmed teaching assistant?
Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to interview Sally, an artificial intelligence-powered tool that Salamanca City Central School District had planned to introduce to students this fall alongside a humanoid robot. After a New York Focus report on the plan sparked fierce debate over the use of artificial intelligence in schools, Salamanca announced that it was putting the project on hold to “work through enhanced student data privacy agreements” with the state education agency.
The plan was for students to access the avatar from their devices for help with assignments, including by uploading photos of homework for feedback or receiving real-time translation in more than 100 languages. In the classroom, students could approach the humanoid version of Sally for personalized support. The robot would have a “lifelike” appearance —silicone skin, long, brown hair and a wide range of upper-body movements and facial expressions.
