A rural New York school district has temporarily abandoned plans to place a lifelike artificial-intelligence robot in a high-school classroom after parents, teachers and state officials reacted with the sort of concern traditionally associated with the opening 20 minutes of a science-fiction movie.

The Salamanca City Central School District had approved spending $57,590 on “Sally,” a life-size humanoid robot with silicone skin, long dark hair, moving arms and hands—and legs that do not work.

In fairness, nonworking legs would probably prevent Sally from abandoning the teaching profession halfway through October.

The robot was scheduled to arrive this fall and assist students studying robotics, programming and other technology-related subjects. District officials envisioned Sally answering questions, explaining equipment such as Arduino circuit boards and giving students experience maintaining and troubleshooting an advanced robot.

Sally was not supposed to replace a teacher or provide regular classroom instruction, officials stressed. She was merely described to the school board as a “tutoring platform,” which apparently sounded sufficiently teacher-like to attract the attention of New York Education Commissioner Betty Rosa.

Rosa questioned precisely what role a realistic humanoid machine would play in the classroom and what protections would prevent students’ personal information from being collected, recorded or transmitted elsewhere.

The district then announced that the pilot program would be placed on hold while officials developed stronger data-privacy agreements and conducted additional conversations with parents, educators and the community. Associated Press

This alone would have produced a perfectly respectable controversy about technology, privacy and whether America’s schools should be buying $58,000 robots while teachers continue purchasing classroom supplies with their own money.

Then everybody learned about the manufacturer.

Sally was purchased from Realbotix, a company under the same corporate umbrella as a business that manufactures highly realistic sex dolls. Realbotix insisted that the educational robot was newly built for the classroom and was not a modified adult product.

That clarification was apparently necessary because “Please be assured that your child’s new robot tutor was never previously employed in another industry” is now a sentence school officials may have to say.

Realbotix said the two companies operate independently and that Sally was designed specifically for education. The robot would reportedly be programmed to avoid subjects including sex, violence and gambling—which should allow it to survive approximately seven minutes in an American high school.

Teachers were not reassured.

New York State United Teachers President Melinda Person said a robot associated with a sex-doll manufacturer had no place in a classroom. The union also argued that students need relationships with caring human adults rather than machines with realistic skin and selectable regional accents.

District Superintendent Mark Beehler defended the original plan, saying Sally could never replace a human educator and was intended only to give students in the rural district access to technology more commonly available in wealthier or larger school systems.

“There is no possible way a robot can replace a human in a school,” Beehler told the Associated Press.

Sally would not record audio or video, collect students’ personal information or access the public internet, according to the district. Her instructional material would be stored locally and limited to approved content, including a technology curriculum developed by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

The robot would also consume about as much electricity as a laptop, although presumably a laptop has never caused the state education commissioner to send an urgent letter demanding to know what it intends to do with the children.

The controversy carried additional sensitivity because Salamanca is located on the Seneca Nation reservation and serves a substantial Native American population. Some local educators questioned why their students were being selected for an experimental program involving an untested classroom robot, particularly given the damaging history of institutions experimenting with Native American education. The Guardian

The state Education Department warned that it intended to monitor the project for possible legal, instructional, privacy and safety consequences. Approximately two hours after the warning arrived, the district announced that Sally’s classroom debut was on hold. Times Union

Realbotix said it respected the pause and wanted the program to proceed only with the approval of the district, teachers and community.

For now, Sally remains unemployed, stationary and unable to walk into a classroom—even if anyone invited her.

Students in Salamanca will therefore begin the new school year under the supervision of ordinary human teachers, whose skin is completely natural, whose legs generally work and whose software occasionally requires nothing more complicated than coffee.

About Post Author

MichCon

See author's posts